From the Case Files of the Calahardy Detective Agency
by braytheist
Summary: Wrestling AU. Follow Tom Hardy and Sara Calaway as they solve cases in the town of Las Vegas, Nevada. Characters appearing throughout the story are Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Renee Young, AJ Styles, Cesaro, The Undertaker, and many others. Collaboration with Rratedauthor
1. Chapter 1

From the Files of The Callahardy Detective Agency… case number #1

"Till Seth Do Us Part"

"Seven a.m." Tom Hardy looked at the dashboard clock. "Why does it always come so early? He asked no one in particular.

He pulled into the parking lot of a small strip mall about five miles off the main Las Vegas drive. Always the first one of the staff to arrive, Tom used the early morning hours to take care of the day-to-day paperwork of the office before things started heating up. In Vegas, that meant almost anything could happen at any time and it usually did.

Nestled between a pawn shop and a vacant restaurant, the Callahardy detective agency had started out as a joke between Tom and his partner Sara after their previous employer had filed for bankruptcy in early 2016. One year later, things were good. They had enough work to make a living from it. Most of it was run of the mill cheating cases or trying to find a lost relative, but there was enough variety to make every day different.

"Home sweet home." Tom sighed. "Hopefully no psychos waiting for me today."

Tom unlocked the door to the office and walked inside. Flicking on the lights with one hand, he petted Beaker, the office cat, with the other.

"Anybody call while I was out?" He joked

Beaker walked over to his almost empty food dish and sat down beside it.

"I guess not." Tom shrugged and filled Beaker's food and water before the stray black and white cat made an international incident out of it. "Let me know when Sara gets here. I'll be in my office."

The cat just looked at Tom.

"Whatever." Tom tossed the stack of mail onto the receptionist's desk on the way into his own office. Once Alicia, or Ms. Fox as she preferred to be called, arrived, she could go through it all.

He groaned at the stack of photos on his desk. The surveillance work on his most recent case had come back just as the agency was closing the night before. The case itself was nothing much to talk about at first, but things were gradually getting more heated and definitely weirder. What had started out as a possible embezzlement by an employee of a large company that specialized in adult entertainment was turning into something else. Already there were hints of dark magic, serial killings, incest, and a couple other things that Tom had never even heard of. He was definitely going to need Sara's help on this one.

He had just started cataloguing the photos when the door slammed open, startling Tom, the cat, and several sparrows on a nearby window ledge.

"Morning, Sara." He called out. There was only one person who made that kind of entrance.

Sara grumbled a response to Tom knowing he couldn't hear her in the other room. The only downside to this job was having to be in the office at such an ungodly hour and most days they worked late into the night. Other than that, this job couldn't be a better match for her. She loved it though, the cases she got to solve, her office and the staff she worked with, and the best perk of all was her partner. She and Tom had clicked from the moment they had met years ago and since then they had made a great team no matter what they got themselves into.

Sara opened the blinds to let some light into the room and picked up Beaker to give him a snuggle. The cat meowed in protest, as he was not done with his breakfast yet. Sara put him back down in front of his dish and huffed as she made her way into Tom's office.

"Hey Tommy. What's on the agenda for today?" Sara asked, plopping down in the chair against the wall and taking a sip of her coffee.

Tom picked up a file and opened it, proceeding to tell Sara about the strange case he had been working on. Sara was going over the papers when the phone rang.

"Callahardy detective agency, this is Tom, how can I help you?"

"Hey, man, it's Dean." a familiar voice said on the other line

"Hey buddy, how are you?" Tom leaned against his desk

"Uhm..I've been better actually. I think Seth is cheating on me and I was wondering if I could use your services to find out for sure."

"Oh damn." Tom sighed into the receiver "Of course we'll help."

Sara looked up at that moment and waved her hand at Tom

"What's going on?" she asked

"Let me put you on speaker so Sara can hear, that ok?"

"Sure" Dean replied

"Cool, go ahead." Tom instructed as he pressed the speaker button.

"Hey Sara." Dean's gruff voice came from the phone

"Hey Deano. Everything ok?" Sara tossed the file onto Tom's desk and leaned in closer to the phone

"Not really. I have a bad feeling about Seth. He's been acting off for the last few weeks. He's always working late, missing dates we've planned, his nose is always in his phone, and he doesn't seem interested in being with me anymore. He's had a real attitude lately."

Dean explained his story as Tom and Sara listened intently. Tom shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair and Sara's brow furrowed. A lot of their cases were pertaining to cheating spouses or partners, so this was nothing new to them. However Dean and Seth were their friends. It's always difficult to work on a case when it's someone that you are close with.

"We'll definitely check into it, babe." Sara assured "I really hope it isn't true, but we will call you if we find something."

"Thanks guys. I appreciate it." Dean said

"Hang in there, man." Tom offered as he hung up the phone.

"Well this day just got interesting." he looked at Sara

"Yeah." She answered "Fuckin' interesting is right."

"I guess we better open a file." Tom sat down at his desk and started taking notes. He preferred to write things down first, and then he usually passed it over to Alicia to type. Not because he wanted to, but he couldn't type very well and Sara usually couldn't be bothered.

"Do we have to?" Sara demanded, sitting on the edge of Tom's desk. "I mean, they're our friends… can't we keep this off the record?"

Tom pushed his reading glasses down his nose and stared at his partner. "Have you forgotten what happened the last time we didn't do proper due diligence? I do not want to risk my license because some old bitty catches me watching Seth's apartment. Fuck babe, if Adam and Jay hadn't worked things out, I'd probably still be tits-deep in court filings."

Sara waved her hand. "Pfft… minor details."

"To you maybe. You have a rich Daddy. Mine is dead." Tom replied, continuing to take notes based on the brief conversation he'd had with Dean. "This will go into the locked file, though. This case does not exist as far as the rest of the team goes."

Sara nodded, and then opened her mouth to speak.

"We can black out the names for Ms. Fox if necessary. Speaking of which…"

Their secretary had finally arrived for the day and was already going through the mail.

"Close the door." Tom said

Sara did as she was asked.

"I know where Seth hangs out. I'll take the van tonight and do a little snooping. You keep Deano occupied."

Sara nodded again.

"Good. For friendship's sake, I hope Dean is wrong."

…

The next afternoon, Sara was busy with one of her cases when a thick file was slammed down on her desk. She jumped and looked up. Tom was staring at her with an expression somewhere between disgust and anger.

"His name is Fergal Devitt. He's a blackjack dealer at Caesar's palace."

Sara opened the file. "That was fast."

"Babe, how long have we known Seth? That guy is a subtle as a fart in church. Check out the file and let me know what you want to do next."

Sara nodded and began to look over the file. She was silent as she read page after page, and intently stared at the photographs Tom had taken. It was right there in black and white, Seth sitting at the blackjack table at the casino, this Fergal guy leaning over the table to give him a kiss on the lips while the other players were busy studying their cards. There were photos of them talking quietly and what looked like flirting by the expression on their faces.

"Disgusting isn't it?" Tom asked, noting Sara's expression as she flipped through the file.

"I'm in shock." Sara shook her head and stared up at Tom "But I have to give you your due diligence. You're damn good."

"I know." Tom grinned for a brief second before returning to a more serious expression.n "There's one more thing."

"Oh?" Sara raised an eyebrow, watching as Tom pulled out his surveillance camera. He focused it on the desk and leaned down so Sara could get a good view. He pressed play and a very intimate scene played out before the two detective's eyes. A few moments in, Sara was done. She pushed the camera away and made a gagging noise before looking up at Tom.

"How the hell did you get that without getting caught? You never cease to amaze me."

"Like you said, I'm that damn good. So what do we do now?" Tom asked

"We gotta tell Dean." Sara sighed and buried her head in her hands. "This is going to suck."

"You're telling me." Tom ran his hand through his hair and stared out the window.

"I'll tell him if you want." Sara offered

Tom nodded, appearing to be lost in thought. Sara called Dean and arranged a meeting with him later that afternoon to discuss the case. She tried to sound as normal as possible without tipping him off that his assumptions had been right. After getting off the phone with Dean, she put her feet up on the desk and leaned back in her chair, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingers. She could already feel a headache coming on, and she needed to think about how she was going to handle the situation as delicately as possible. Tom left her to think while he went to go back to one of the many cases he was working on, although he was too distracted to think about it for too long. His heart went out to his friend, and he hated that this was happening to him and that they would be the ones to have to break the news.

That afternoon, Sara met Dean at a diner on the outskirts of Las Vegas. She arranged the location to be away from the city so that she could take her Harley for a drive to help clear her mind, and she was afraid of what would happen if Dean was anywhere near either of the two men that were currently ruining his life.

"Ok, Sara, let me have it." Dean asked as soon as he sat down in the booth.

"Hello to you too." Sara winked at the older man.

"Sara... please." Dean sighed

He looked exhausted, like he hadn't been sleeping. His hair was dirty and a mess, there were dark circles under his bloodshot eyes, and he just looked awful. Sara knew this was going to be hard on both of them, but she figured that putting it off any longer would just make matters worse. She sighed before reaching out and taking Dean's hand into hers and giving it a squeeze.

"Tommy followed Seth last night for several hours. You were right." She said softly

Dean didn't say anything. He just stared at her as if she had grown a second head. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, and he was trying to process the words.

"Please tell me this is a joke." Dean finally managed to say.

"I'm sorry, but it isn't. We have the proof."

Sara pulled the file out of her backpack and pushed it across the table to Dean. He stared at it for a long while before finally opening it. He picked up the small stack of printed photographs that Tom had taken. Dean didn't say anything as he looked at them, his heart sinking as he saw his boyfriend, the man he loved with all of his heart, embracing in a kiss with another man. Dean felt as if his heart was being slowly ripped from his chest and he had to choke back the tears forming in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, honey." Sara said as she gave his hand another squeeze

"What do I do now?" Dean looked up at the girl with sad eyes.

"That's up to you. As far as Tom and I are concerned, our job is done, but we will be more than happy to be by your side through whatever you do as a friend."

"I want to talk to him; I just can't do it alone." Dean stared out the window, his eyes not really fixing onto anything in particular.

"I'll go with you. You need the support."

"Thanks. He's supposed to be working late tonight." Dean gave a small sarcastic laugh before shaking his head.

"Then let's go."

Sara finished her coffee and they paid their tabs. Dean jumped in his truck and followed Sara's bike back into the city. They arrived at the Crossfit center Seth worked at and parked. Dean paced back and forth in the parking lot, his fists clinched with anger. Sara watched him, not sure what to say to help him, if anything.

"Okay, let's do this." Dean stormed toward the door, yanking it open and walking inside. Sara followed, nervous about what was going to happen. She didn't do well with emotions and confrontations, and she didn't know if it would get physical between the two men. She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her leather riding jacket and followed Dean through the gym, searching for Seth. They made their way to the back toward the showers, where Dean stopped suddenly, causing Sara to run right into his back.

"Listen." Dean whispered

Sara put her hand over her mouth and grabbed onto Dean's arm. The sounds of sex could be heard coming from the showers, and they both knew who it had to be, as the gym was empty. Dean was shaking with fury, and Sara tightened her grip on his arm.

"Dean, take a deep breath. You don't know for sure that it's him." Sara tried to be helpful but Dean just shook his head.

"I'd know that moan anywhere. It's him." Dean stormed into the locker room, kicking open the door. Sara hesitated for a brief second before deciding that she really wanted to see the look on Seth's face when they caught him red handed. She hurried behind Dean and waited for the impending explosion to happen.

Dean rounded the corner and walked straight into the shower, grabbing Seth by his hair and yanking him away from his secret lover and out into the locker area. Fergal stood there in shock, but decided it was best if he just stayed where he was.

"What the fuck?" A startled Seth shouted as he tried to cover his junk with his hands.

"That's what I'm wondering"

"Shit. Dean!" Seth's eyes went wide and he glanced between his boyfriend and Sara, knowing he'd been made. "Dean, it isn't what it looks like."

"It's never what it looks like is it, Seth? If I had a penny for every time someone said that to me, I'd own a private island by now." Sara rolled her eyes

"What are you even doing here?" Seth glared at her

"What are YOU doing here?" Dean yelled, his blue eyes filled with anger.

"Dean, please." Seth pleaded, grabbing for a towel to wrap around his waist.

"Please what, Seth? How long have you been fucking him behind my back? Why didn't you just tell me you weren't happy? Why couldn't I be enough for you?" Dean rambled on, his voice cracking the more he yelled, his eyes filling with tears.

"Dean, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, baby, please." Seth tried to reach out for Dean's hand but the older man just jerked it away.

"Was he worth it? Was he worth losing everything we worked our asses off for? Was he worth losing the best thing that ever happened to you?" Dean gave Seth a hard shove, knocking the long haired man backward.

"You know what? Fergal is the best thing that's ever happened to me." Seth screamed, pushing Dean back.

"Jesus..." Sara muttered to herself, watching the altercation.

Dean stood in stunned silence. He just stared at Seth, his face an expression of rage but his eyes looked as if he were lost and broken.

"Fine. That's it then. Goodbye Seth" Dean swallowed hard before pushing past Seth and making his way out of the locker room.

"Dean." Seth called after him

"Don't bother dude. You fucked up big time. Enjoy your new plaything."

Sara ran out after Dean, leaving behind a torn Seth and a very stunned Fergal. She exited the gym just in time to hear the squeal of tires on asphalt as Dean burned rubber.

"Shit." Sara swore, kicking her bike's fender. "Fuck. Shit. Damn."

She tooled out moments later, not wanting to risk another encounter with Seth or his fuck buddy. She rode the back roads until her rage subsided enough that she could think clearly. She called Dean, but only got his voice mail.

"Dean, please call me when you got a second. I am worried about you. Like I said, Tom and I are still your friends and we'll do everything we can to help." Sara knew it sounded decidedly un-Saralike, but she felt a little guilty about the whole situation. It was she who had introduced Dean to Seth over a year ago.

She called Tom with a brief report on the confrontation. As usual, he was sympathetic.

"Right now, there's nothing else we can do." He answered

"I know… I just feel shitty."

"Take the rest of the day off." Tom suggested "God knows I wish I was at a casino right now."

"Thanks… I'll see you tomorrow." Sara drove off into the desert; her favorite place to go when she needed to think.

Tom spent the rest of the night at the poker table. He won a couple grand, but in his heart he felt like a loser.

…

Tom was in for a surprise when he arrived at work the next morning. A familiar truck was parked in front of the office.

"What the fuck?" Tom asked, swerving to avoid it since the owner had parked it in his spot.

He killed the Porsche's engine and got out. The cab was empty, but Tom sound found the driver. Dean was asleep against the wall of the building and it looked like he had spent the night there.

"Fuck, Dean." Tom's heart went out to his friend even more. Finding him here meant that Dean literally had no other place to go. "Why didn't you call me or Sara? We both would've taken you in."

"Dean?" Tom squatted on the pavement. "Deano?"

No response. He truly seemed dead to the world.

"Ambrose? Wakey-wakey." Tom grabbed Dean's shoulder and shook him gently.

Dean finally awoke with a start. He instinctively raised his fists.

"Whoa, bro. It's just me."

"Tommy?" Dean sighed, lowering his hands.

"Yeah, man."

"What time is it?"

"A bit before seven. Did you sleep here all night?"

Dean shook his head. "Drove, man. I couldn't go home."

"C'mon, let's go inside. I'll put the coffee on and we can talk if you need to." Tom helped Dean up and they went into the agency.

After feeding Beaker, Tom started the coffeemaker in reception while Dean looked around.

"There's a couch in my office… go make yourself comfortable."

"Thanks. Black, please."

Tom understood. He also drank his coffee that way. When it was ready, he poured two cups of the steaming beverage and followed. Dean had shed his jacket and boots and was sitting on the middle cushion.

"Here."

Dean took the cup and took a deep gulp of the steaming beverage.

"Thanks again, man." He sighed, and then set the cup down. Almost immediately, his shoulders began to shake.

Tom set his own drink on his desk, and sat down next to Dean.

"Dude, I know they call you the Lunatic Fringe, but you will go crazy if you keep this shit to yourself." The shoulder shaking was Dean's way of trying not to show any emotion.

"I just need to think." Dean answered "He… I mean Seth… he was everything to me. From the minute Sara introduced us, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of…" Dean broke down into harsh sobs that made not just his shoulders shake.

"Been there, man." Tom whispered "You were our friend before we even heard of Seth fuckin' Rollins. We will do everything we can to get you over this. Right now, I suggest you get some sleep. Use my office."

Dean nodded, wiping his eyes with the tail of his black muscle shirt.

"I'll grab a couple blankets for you."

"You keep blankets here?" Dean seemed surprised.

"I've slept here more times than I care to discuss." Tom grabbed two thick blankets from supply. By the time he returned, Dean had stripped off his jeans, socks, and shirt. Tom suddenly realized that his friend was really put together, and that was before Dean turned around.

"If you need anything, I'll be in Sara's office." He said.

"I'll be okay." Dean climbed under the blankets. "Thanks to you guys."

Tom nodded. At that exact moment, nodding was all he could do since the rest of his energy was focused on thinking unsexy thoughts about Dean.

He hung the 'do not disturb' sign on the office door and quietly closed it.

"Wow…" he thought "It's gunna be another one of those days."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

"I apologize for the cramped quarters, but my office is being used for something at the moment."

The entire staff, including Ms. Fox the secretary, was gathered around Sara's desk for the early morning briefing. Dean was still passed out on Tom's couch, hence the change of venue.

"First item of business. I'd like to officially welcome Bayley to our team. For now, she'll be working with Renee. To everyone else, help her out until she gets her feet wet." Tom read from his agenda. "Active cases…"

AJ Styles started. "Complainant Matthew Hardy… concerned that his brother Jeff has fallen in with a bad crowd."

"We talking gang activity?" Sara asked "Shouldn't that be a job for organized crime?"

AJ consulted his notes. "Only had one interview with complainant Hardy, but he doesn't seem to think so. He's more worried about drugs right now. Gonna talk to a few people I know and see where it leads."

Tom nodded. "Keep us informed. You know we don't deal in gang shit… too much collateral damage."

AJ nodded.

"Next?"

The agency's financial crimes experts, a former Swiss National named Antonio Cesaro, spoke up.

"Possible blackmail case involving Vincent Kennedy McMahon."

"The sports guy?" Sara whistled "Wow."

"Yeah… it looks like someone from his past is trying to get some cash from our guy." Cesaro replied "McMahon is stopping by the office at noon."

Tom nodded. "Don't disappoint. This guy has connections and connections are just as good as cash in our line of work. Next?"

Renee spoke next. "Nothing too fancy my end, but my uncle, the chief of Police of Clark County, asked me to look into a couple of his men…"

"Hold on!" Sara interrupted

"Yes ma'am?"

"Doesn't Internal Affairs cover this?" The last thing Sara wanted was to be stepping on the police department's toes. The cops already hated firms like theirs; they claimed it was taking business away from them.

"This is strictly off the record." Renee answered "He just asked if I could check out a few things."

"Tom, what do you think?" Sara asked

"I don't see any harm in Renee asking a few questions. I'm gonna supervise on this one, just to be safe." Tom wrote a couple notes. "Especially since you're working with the rookie."

"Yes sir." Renee replied

"You all know about my fraud investigation involving Likansuk porn. Nothing new to report, but if you have some time this afternoon Cesaro, could you stop by my office. The CFO dropped off a shit-ton of paperwork last week and I still haven't been able to go through all the financials." Tom updated his own work.

"Sure boss." Cesaro nodded

"Anything new from you Sara?"

"Just one case… a call came in from a Corey Graves. Says his girlfriend, a lady by the name of Emma Dashwood, has been missing since yesterday evening. Last seen at a Rave outside the old Riviera Casino site."

"Police?" It was Renee's turn to ask.

"He filed a report, but the police didn't seem to eager to follow it up when they found out her past… teenage runaway twice, assault charges, shoplifting, that sort of thing."

"Any leads?"

"No, but Corey has given me a list of places and people she hung out with. Given the crowd, I'll blend in no sweat."

"Okay… anything else?"

The agents all shook their heads.

"A couple last bits of administrative work… my office is off limits today. Nothing serious, just a personal matter. I'll be working in Sara's office if you need me. Secondly, I need you in early tomorrow Bayley to finish your paperwork."

"No problem… does seven thirty work?"

"Perfectly. Last item, I just want to remind everyone, especially our new agent, to make sure that all new clients fill out the proper forms. As well, I know that we have done a bit of work for family and friends recently. I remind you that this is a business and as a part of due diligence, we must have an advance when the client signs on. I'm not saying gouge Grandpa, but we need something to show that we are employed by them. Any questions?"

"Is that really necessary if it's family?" Renee asked

"Yes. Take twenty dollars if you want… just so we can show that we are being paid against future work." Tom responded "This is directly from our accountant, Irwin R. Schyster. That's all I got… any last-minute stuff?"

Silence.

"Okay, let's get to work folks… there's money to be made. Oh, sorry, one last thing. Tomorrow night, there's a staff dinner at the Bellagio to welcome Bayley to our firm. Dress up." Tom shut his book. "The limo will be here at eight p.m."

…

The office hummed along steadily until just before lunch. While going cross-eyed looking at financial records, and God was he sick of numbers by this point, Tom occasionally looked toward his office door. Other than the odd thump, things were very quiet from inside.

At about ten minutes to twelve noon, Tom finally gave up. He needed a break.

"I'm sure you're sick of working beside my ugly ass face, so I'm goin' to lunch."

Tom stood and stretched. The tendons in his neck crackled noisily, as did his spine.

"Cool." Sara did not look up from what she was doing. "You gunna take Dean with you?"

"I had thought of it." Tom said "Other than a cuppa coffee, I don't think he's eaten today."

Sara nodded. "I'll mind the shop. Text me if you need anything."

"Thanks, babe."

Tom crossed the floor to his office. He knocked softly.

"You awake?"

A muffled moan came from behind the door.

"I'm taking that as a yes." Tom entered his office. Dean was still on the couch, asleep, but it looked like he had not slept well. The blankets were thrown helter-skelter on the floor beside the couch, and this gave Tom another good look at his friend.

"What the fuck were you thinking Rollins, cheating on this?" As he had hours earlier, Tom shook his friend awake.

"Hey Dean, how ya doin'?" He asked

"Still feel shitty." He muttered "What time is it?"

"Almost noon. Get up and put your clothes on. I'm taking you to lunch."

"Not hungry." Dean closed his eyes.

"I know, but I want to talk to you about your present problems and I'd rather not do it here." Tom whispered as the door to the office was standing wide open. "Let's go." To convince Dean, Tom threw his jeans at him.

"Five minutes." He left the office after grabbing some keys from his desk.

Exactly four minutes and thirty-two seconds, by the office clock, later, Dean and Tom were strolling out the front door. As they left, Tom held the front door for a very familiar figure. Familiar if you followed local sports.

"Right on time." Tom thought "Don't fuck this one up, A.C."

…

The chime from the door sensor went off indicating someone had arrived in the reception area.

"Hello, do you have an appointment?" Ms Fox asked as she looked up from her desk.

"Yes, I am here to see Antonio Cesaro." The grey haired business man responded, clutching a briefcase nervously.

"Okay, just one moment please." Ms Fox picked up the phone and pressed the number connecting her to Cesaro's office.

"Mr Cesaro," Ms Fox paused as she ran a finger down the appointment book in front of her. "Mr. McMahon is here for his appointment"

A moment later, Cesaro, a tall, bald man who always dressed in expensive black suits and was never seen without sunglasses, appeared in the doorway, motioning for the older man to follow him to his office. The two sat down and Cesaro moved a stack of papers off to the side of his desk and took out a notepad and pen.

"On the phone you said that this was about blackmail and financial problems, correct?"

"Yes" Vince opened his briefcase and handed a sheet of paper to Cesaro "My former business partner has decided to blackmail me. He claims to have proof of money laundering and tax evasion."

"I see" Cesaro scribbled notes on his pad "Any particular motive for this?"

"We'll, my partner and I parted ways a few years ago and he never got his cut. It was a breach of contract, so legally he isn't entitled to it. However he says he found a loophole and has threatened to go to the police. I'm a profound business man, as you know. I am a millionaire, a father, and a grandfather. I can't go to prison and no matter how good of a lawyer my money can buy, I must admit that this evidence is incredibly incriminating and I'm doomed if the authorities get a hold of this."

Cesaro wrote down his notes quickly as Vince explained his situation.

"Alright. Just a couple of questions for you and then I'll tell you the next steps in this process."

Vince nodded

"First off, what exactly do you want our agency to do for you?"

"Well, I have heard that you are an expert in money laundering and finances. I was referred here by an employee. If you can't help in that area, maybe you can dig up some dirt on my ex partner to make him back down from this whole thing."

"I see. Well, at this agency we go by the books and the law. But from what you're telling me, this was all illegal activity. I will however check into the entire situation with both parties and see what can be done."

"I understand." Vince nodded

"What is your former partner's name?"

"Eric Bischoff." Vince sighed

Cesaro wrote that information down as well.

"The name of the party you accepted money from?"

"I'd rather not say." Vince stated

"Well it is vital information to your case. You can tell me or I can just find out myself. If you want help out of this situation, I suggest you give us your full cooperation." Cesaro looked at the older man with a stone expression, awaiting his decision.

"It's Likansuk Entertainment." Vince sighed, defeated in his attempt to keep his private business hidden.

Cesaro said nothing, being the professional he is, but inwardly he snickered at the name. The name rang a bell, but he was not at liberty to discuss open cases.

"Alright. I will get to work on this today, and will call you as soon as I have figured something out. I need all your transactions involving Likansuk and all of your tax reports from the time you started business with them and now."

"I can do that. Thank you very much for your time."

"One last thing before we conclude business. Fees." Cesaro put the lid on his pen and folded his hands under his chin.

"I was wondering about that."

"I bill two hundred fifty an hour plus expenses for investigative services. From what you have told me, this case could run up a few man-hours. I will require a ten thousand dollar advance against services rendered before I can being to look at what I can do for you." Cesaro informed Vince, who didn't even flinch.

"Considering what this could cost me, that's nothing. Is cash alright?"

"Certainly." Cesaro pressed the intercom on his desk. "Ms. Fox, could you bring in a contract for services and your receipt book please?"

"Right away, Mr. Cesaro."

After the payment was received, counted, verified a second time, and the contract signed, the men stood and shook hands and Vince left. Cesaro sat back at his desk and opened his laptop to begin research.

"This is going to be a pain in my ass." Cesaro muttered

...

Tom and Dean took Dean's truck to Earl of Sandwich for lunch. Tom had found this restaurant shortly after his first all-night stakeout. Like a lot of things in Vegas, it was open 24 hours and that made it perfect for having a late-night meeting with a client. He ordered a buffalo chicken wrap, while Dean had a ham and swiss sandwich. Both men ordered coffee to drink. Tom plowed into his food, but Dean just picked at his.

"Dude…"

"I'm fine." Dean answered; finally taking a huge chomp of sandwich.

"Bullshit." Tom set down his half-eaten wrap and clasped his hands under his chin. "I make a living chasing down liars and cheats so don't con me."

"Really, I'm…"

"You say you're fine one more time and I will kick your ass from here to the Venetian." Tom interrupted Dean.

"Fuck you, Tom." Dean shouted

"Hey, you came to Sara and I for help. So let us help you."

"How?" Dean grumbled "I just found out the one person that I thought cared more for me than anyone else is fucking a dealer. I'd really like to shove my fist down his throat and let him choke to death on it."

"Unfortunately, that is the one thing that I can't help you with. Contractual murder is beyond the scope of the Private Security and Investigative Services Act of 2005." Tom fought back a chuckle. "But there is something I can do for you."

Tom took the keys that he had grabbed from his desk and threw them across the table to Dean. "Once we are finished here, we're going back to your place so you can get your clothes and stuff. After that, you're gunna stay with me for a bit. That's my spare set. Don't lose them."

Dean looked at the keys, then back at Tom, and then at the keys again. He did his best goldfish impression by opening and closing his mouth several times without anything understandable coming out.

"Th-thanks." He finally stuttered

Tom nodded, his mouth stuffed full of sandwich. Nothing more was said about it until after they had left the restaurant, when Dean suddenly became much more moody.

"Are we gonna drive or sit here like it's your first day of school?" Tom asked

Dean took his hands, which were shaking, off the wheel. "I don't think I can do this." He said

"Do what?" Tom asked

"See Seth right now." Dean sighed loudly. "He's gunna be there."

"Afraid of what you might do or what he might do?"

Dean did not need to answer. Tom saw the fear in his friend's eye.

"Don't worry, I got you covered on that too."

Tom grabbed his cell and opened it. "J & J" He said

The phone rang twice before it was answered. "J & J Security. Joe Mercury."

"Hey, Mercury… it's Tom Hardy."

Hey Hardy, long time no… well, anything. How's business?"

"Business is good. Listen, I hate to drop this on you short notice, but I need a favour."

"Spill."

"I got a buddy who just broke up with his other and needs to get his shit out of the other's place. You got a couple guys you can spare for a couple hours?"

"I assume you need these guys right away?"

"Like I said, sorry about short notice…"

"Fuck, Tom, what kind of a hypocrite would I be if I said no. For all the business you've sent J & J since you stared Calahardy, it's the least I can do. What's the address?"

"Address?" Tom asked Dean.

Dean told him and Tom relayed the info to Mercury.

"We'll have two of our best there in thirty."

"Thanks." Tom nodded

"Our pleasure."

…

Sara was in her office taking an after lunch nap. Most of her work for the day had been completed as best it could be, and she was exhausted. The events of the last twenty four hours had taken a toll on her sleep and she still felt really guilty and angry over the whole Dean and Seth situation. She was abruptly awoken from a nice dream about Chris Hemsworth when her phone rang.

"Huh? Hello?" Sara said, still half asleep.

"I have someone in reception who is asking for you." Ms Fox said on the other line.

"I don't have any appointments today." Sara yawned, sitting up in her chair.

"Yes you do. Look at your calander." Ms Fox sounded bored.

"Shit...ok give me a minute."

Sara sighed and looked around. Her office was a mess, something Tom often lectured her about. She moved a few things around and left her office. As she walked toward reception, she straightened her button up blouse and fixed her hair up into a ponytail in an attempt to not look like a hot mess, something else Tom always complained about. Her partner was pretty easy going but sometimes Sara just drove him crazy.

She went into the reception area and saw a man clad in dirty jeans, an old t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, showing his full sleeves of tattoos on both arms, and his greasy hair slicked back. Sara raised an eyebrow but walked over to the man.

"Hi, I'm Sara. You must be who I spoke with yesterday." she extended her hand

The man nodded and stood, shaking her hand.

"Yes, I'm sorry for asking for an immediate appointment, but it's an emergency and word around town is you're the person to go to." The man said, his voice dripping with despair.

"I'll see what I can do, let's go back to my office. Would you like some coffee?" she offered

The man looked like her he'd had less sleep than her.

"That would be great." he mumbled

Sara made him a cup of coffee, and they sat in her office. Sara opened up her laptop and pulled up her word program to take notes. She then handed her new client a couple of forms to fill out.

"OK Mr Graves, can I have a good contact number and a residence?"

"Just Corey, please." The man said, giving her the information as she typed away

"OK. Let's revisit the nature of your visit please, to make sure everything is accurate."

I "My girlfriend is missing. Her name is Emma Dashwood, she's 28 years old, blonde hair, brown eyes." Corey rattled off the details "I'm afraid something happened to her. Please, you have to help me. Someone told me you could help because the police wouldn't listen to me. They think she just up and left but she didn't take anything with her." Corey pleaded

"Who referred you to me, specifically, if I may ask?"

"A guy that came into my shop. Long hair, big guy, tattoos. I can't remember his name but I remember his motorcycle. I'm a mechanic and he had the most badass bike I've ever worked on. It was an I200 Custom, red trim..." He trailed off noting Sara nod in recognition.

"That was my dad. Of course he'd recommend me." Sara laughed "Well if he thinks I can, then I'll do my best."

"Thank you." Corey sighs with relief and seemed to relax a little

They spent the next twenty minutes going over details about the missing girl and their relationship. Emma had moved to Los Angeles from Australia, and that's where she had met Corey. They moved to Las Vegas two years ago when Corey couldn't find work in California. He bought his own garage and she started working at a strip club. She had recently got a new job but Corey didn't know where, because Emma didn't want to tell him. Regardless, everything was going well for them, and Corey had finally saved enough money to buy an engagement ring. He was going to propose to her the night she never came home from work. She had no ties back in LA, nor did she have the money or motive to fly back to Australia.

At the end of the meeting Sara had a long list of notes and assured Corey she would help, although a few details made her suspicious about the whole thing.

"I think we are all set. Now to talk about payment." Sara said, saving her notes and closing the laptop.

"I don't have a lot of money, but I'll give anything I can. I just want her back and safe." Corey said

"I see." Sara paused for a moment, and then sighed. Although she had her suspicions about the case, Corey seemed genuine and was helpless. She felt bad for him.

"Look, I'll tell you what. If you can give me forty right now, I'll start working on this immediately and I won't ask for more until after the case is closed."

"Are you sure? Thank you so much. I knew that guy, Mark, that was his name, Mark Calaway, was onto something when he said he knew you would help find my girl."

Sara just smiled at him and accepted the two wadded up twenties he pulled out of his pocket. He thanked her again before turning to leave.

"Oh, and Corey?" Sara stood from her desk and held out a business card with his contract and receipt. "Here's my direct number if you need anything or have any leads."

"Thanks." Corey seemed happier than when he had arrived.

Sara watched Corey leave, and then went back into her office. She leaned back in her chair and idly wondered what Tom and Dean were doing. While she mused about the events of the past day, Chris Hemsworth snuck back into her mind and five minutes later, she was fast asleep again.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Dean sat on the hood of his truck, staring at the faded patch of paint that showed between his legs. He hadn't said one word since they arrived outside the condo complex he and Seth had lived in.

Tom checked his Rolex. "Remember, we are not coming back. Get everything you need, animal, vegetable, or mineral."

Dean nodded. He still couldn't believe that it had come to this. Just days ago, he still thought he had found the man he was going to spend the rest of his life with.

"You're on paperwork for this place, right?" Tom asked

Dead nodded again.

"Good. That way Seth can't do shit. Well, he can do shit, but you still have a legal right to be here." Tom looked at his watch again. "Where are… finally."

A black Cadillac Sedan de Ville pulled up bumper to bumper with the truck. To Tom's surprise, it wasn't just any two guys who showed up. It was the J & J themselves; James Noble and Joe Mercury, dressed in matching grey suits, black shirts, and yellow ties.

"When you said you'd send two of the best, I didn't think I'd get this kinda treatment."

"Least we can do for a gold client." Noble replied

"Dean, they're all yours."

"You're not coming in?"

Tom shook his head. "I'll run interference out here if needed. Seth is still my friend, even though he totally sucks right now. J & J will take care of you."

"You can count on that." Mercury answered "Come on Dean, let's get you taken care of."

The trio walked up to the door of Dean's soon to be former home.

"We're gonna wait in the hall for ya. If you need us, yell." Mercury told Dean.

Dean nodded, swallowing loudly.

"Hey, we're good." Noble put his hand on Dean's shoulder. "We're with you. Any friend of Tom's is a friend of ours."

Dean exhaled, and then entered the condo. Seth was there and judging from his posture, he'd been waiting for Dean.

"I was wondering if you were going to show up." He scowled.

"I'm just here to pick up my stuff." Dean replied "Then I'll be out of your life forever."

"Dean, please… can we talk about this?"

"I think you made your intentions plain last night." Dean shouted. Not there two minutes, and already his plans were shot to shit. He stormed into the bedroom, grabbed his travel-worn suitcase from the closet and started emptying dresser drawers into it.

"I didn't mean it. It was a mistake." Seth followed Dean and stood in the doorway, cornering him.

"It sure didn't look like a mistake last night." Dean piled jeans, shirts, socks, underwear, and anything else he could into the case. "It looked like you were having quite a bit of fun."

"Look, babe, can we give it another try? I promise it will never happen again."

"What about Fergal?" Dean demanded

"We're finished." Seth answered

"Seth, stop lying!" Dean shouted

"I'm not!" Seth whined. "After you caught us, we talked, and I ended it. Dean, he meant nothing to me. You're the only one I want to be with."

"Do you really think I'm going to come back to you just like that?" Dean pushed Seth out of the doorjam and went into the bathroom. "You're fuckin' nuts if you do."

"Dean…" Seth tried to grab his arm.

"And don't fucking touch me." Dean pulled away.

"C'mon…" Seth grabbed him again.

"I said no!" Dean shouted loud enough for J & J to hear all the way in the hall.

"Is everything all right in here?" Mercury entered, followed by Noble.

"What the fuck?" Seth looked at Dean with disbelief. "You need bodyguards now?"

"I didn't want to do it this way." Dean answered "But I knew if I came alone, you'd try shit like this. I'm ready to go."

He slammed the suitcase shut.

J & J walked Dean into the hall, where he stripped two keys from his key ring.

"Here." He tossed them onto a small table near the door, then grabbed a potted plant from the same table. "Don't call me, don't text me, don't email me, basically stay the fuck away from me."

Seth's jaw dropped, but he recovered his attitude rather quickly.

"You got nobody… you'll be on the street in days."

"I'd rather live in the gutter and be happy than live with you and wonder if you're really working late. Goodbye."

Mercury and Noble exited the condo, Dean following. As a final farewell, he slammed the door hard enough to rattle windows two floors up.

Tom was leaning against the truck, sending a text to someone, when they returned.

"Everything go alright?" He asked

Dean tossed his suitcase into the truck bed while Mercury and Noble updated Tom.

"Motherfucker… makes it seem like this is Dean's fault." Tom shot imaginary daggers toward the condo windows.

"Isn't that always the case?" Mercury interjected

"In my line o' work, yeah." Tom answered "What's the bill?"

"We're cool." Noble answered "It was a slow day at the office."

"Fuck, no. Let me give me gas money at least." Tom reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of hundred dollar bills. He gave two of them of Jamie, then two more to Joe.

"Always good doing business with you."

Before either of them could object again, Tom climbed in to the passenger seat of the cab. After moving the potted plant out of the way, they backed up and drove off.

"Another day, another happy customer." Jamie tucked the cash away.

"Yup… Buffet at the Venetian?" Joe asked

"You read my mind."

…

"Could you just drop me off at the office?" Tom asked "I've got a few things to tie up, and my car is still there."

Dean nodded.

"Just make yourself at home, man. There's beer and pizza in the fridge, porn on the laptop, whatever you need. I'll text you on my way home."

"Thanks." Dean whispered.

"Hey. You made a tough decision." Tom patted Dean on the thigh.

"But did I do the right thing?" Dean asked

"That's for you to figure out. For now, don't think too much about it. We can talk more later."

"Cool."

"Any problem with me telling Sara? Or do you want to?"

"I'll talk to her tomorrow. I just want to get home and get some sleep. That couch of yours is not comfy."

Tom chuckled. "There's only one bedroom at my condo, so you either get another quasi-comfy couch, or use my bed. It's a king size. Just don't hog the blankets."

Before Dean could make another witty comment, they arrived at Calahardy.

"Laterz."

"Tom?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks again."

…

Ten o'clock that night two young female detectives sat in the surveillance van, guzzling their gas station coffee in attempts to stay awake. They were staking out the two cops the chief of police had called in about and they just happened the graveyard shift.

"This is going to be a long night" Bayley yawned

"Welcome to your first stakeout. Let's hope something interesting happens." Renee nodded before taking another sip.

The two continued to watch the area, chatting about typical life and girl things, until they finally saw the patrol car pull up to the corner.

"Show time." Renee sat up straight and grabbed the camera "You ready, Rookie?"

"Let's do this!" Baylee exclaimed in an excited whisper.

It wasn't long until the two young cops left their vehicle and stood on the corner, looking around as if they were waiting for someone. Renee and Bayley watched as a drunken casino goer rounded the corner, stumbling right into the officers. Renee swatted at Bayley and she got out a snazzy device that allowed them to hear distant conversations. They put the headphones on and aimed the device in the direction of the three men.

"I'll tell you what son, we can let you off with a warning, but you gotta do us a favor" the dark haired officer said

"Wha-What do you want?" the civilian slurred

"You get in the back of this car here and perform a little act for my partner here while i watch and then you can be on your way."

"I'm not gay, man!" the drunk guy exclaimed defensively

The blonde man took control this time and grabbed the man and forcefully pushed him against the patrol car, whispering something inaudible to the girls' listening device. The young man nodded his head frantically and he was released. The blond officer opened the back door and motioned for the drunk to get inside.

"Go get him, Breezy." the other officer patted his partner on the back and closed the door

Renee and Bayley watched in shock as the officer on the inside of the car pushed the drunk guy down toward his lap and it was obvious what the man was expected to do.

"Stake out, September 15th, 10:27 pm. Officers in question are Johnny Fandango and Tyler Breeze. Detainee unknown. Officers in question appear to be asking for sexual favors from the detainee." Renee said into her recorder as she took notes.

The two continued to watch the scene play out before them.

Fandango leaned over the car, looking in the window as he watched the young man in the backseat with his partner, his own erection growing as he watched Tyler unzip his pants and guide the kid with the faux hawk down. He loved running into drunk young people on the streets, because they were so naive that they would do anything to avoid going to jail. Breezango's, as they liked to be called, operation had been going on for the last six months and it was the most fun the two had on the force.

The kid couldn't have been more than twenty years old, and going to jail for underage drinking and public intoxication would tarnish his record for years, so there he was in the back of a police car, sucking the dick of a cop. He had never been with a guy before, but he was wasted, his head was pounding, and if this really got him out of jail then it would just have to be their secret. He did his best to throat the blond's dick, trying to do things that he liked done to himself in hopes that it felt good. It must have been working, because Tyler threw his head back and moaned, using his hand to push the young man's head down farther. Several minutes and a few gagging noises later, Tyler released his load into the drunk kid's throat, warning him to swallow every bit of it.

Fandango opened the door and let Tyler out of the car, closing it before their detainee could leave as well.

"How was he?" Fandango asked

"Scared, but willing. He's got a good mouth on him." Tyler said, pulling his shoulder length blonde hair back into a ponytail and putting his hat back on

"Good. Let's see how his ass is." Fandango grinned

"Have fun. His name is TJ Perkins, by the way."

Fandango nodded in acknowledgement before getting into the vehicle.

Renee and Bayley stared at the scene before them, horrified that these two officers of the law would be doing these things to an innocent civilian just for fun.

"Should we interfere?" Bayley asked

"No, I don't think that's best right now. We can't blow our cover." Renee shook her head before recording more notes on her recorder.

"But...I feel bad for that guy." Bayley sighed

"Yes, I do too. As far as I can tell, he's not protesting too much."

"He's probably afraid to."

Renee shrugged. The two detectives continued to watch, and listen, to the activities in the back of the police car. Gradually Renee noticed that the occasional moan or grunt or heavy breathing through her headphones was joined by another. But this was closer and it was female.

Cocking her right eyebrow, Renee turned. It was Bayley who was responsible for the extra noises. She was staring intently at the car, her eyes half closed, and two spots of colour on each of her cheeks.

Renee tried hard not to break her own concentration, but she sympathized. Her first stake out had been similar. The problem was she was with Tom at the time.

Renee listened along until the sounds made it obvious that the cop had finished with his victim. She did continue to record until the cop car left the scene; the drunk waddled off in the other direction seconds later.

"Not what I expected when my uncle asked me to watch a couple cops." Renee said while making final notes.

"Yeah." Bayley sighed, obviously still intensely aroused by what she had seen. "Now what?"

"Well..." Renee shifted in her seat, giving a sideways glance to the younger girl next to her.

There was a long pause before both girls instinctively leaned in to each other, their lips meeting and parting in a quick kiss.

"I've… never been with a girl before." Bayley whispered, her cheeks blushing

"It's okay. Do you want to?" Renee asked

"Yeah. I mean, I did come to Las Vegas for experiences." Bayley laughed

"Let's go in the back of the van, there's more room."

The two detectives climbed into the back of the van.

Renee looked at Bayley for any sign that she wanted to change her mind. Not seeing any, she began to unbutton her dark shirt. Underneath was a lacy pink bra. Sliding the shirt off Bayley's small shoulders, she stared at the younger girl.

"If at any time this feels too weird, let me know and I will stop." Renee said

Bayley nodded and shivered slightly once her shirt was entirely off. Renee smiled and unfastened the front of Bayley's bra. It fell to the side, giving Renee a clear view of her partner's breasts. She took them into her hands and began to caress them. They were very firm and the nipples were already starting to harden. Bayley moaned softly.

"I'm not gonna lie… that feels fuckin' awesome." Bayley arched her back, her breathing picking up again.

"If you like that, just wait." Renee leaned in and teasingly licked her left nipple, and then the right. Bayley groaned and muttered something that sounded like "oh fuck".

Renee continued to suck Bayley's nipples until they were both rock hard and the noises coming from her partner sounded like she had just finished a marathon.

"Now for part two." Renee whispered sluttily in Bayley's ear.

"Part two… what is… oh." She felt her pants being opened and quickly pulled down to her ankles. Her panties were of the same colour and material as her bra and Renee noticed a small damp spot in the crotch.

"You were enjoying the show." She whispered

"Wouldn't you be? I just wish we'd had better seats." Bayley's mind was going in ten different directions. When she took the job with Calahardy, the last thing she expected to happen on her first 'job' was this. Lying in the back of the surveillance truck, her shirt and pants now off, her bra open and her partner about to pull down her underwear was not in the job description.

Renee slowly pulled down Bayley's underwear. "Nice." She licked her lips.

Bayley blushed at the compliment. It was safe to say that she'd never had anyone, especially a girl, compliment her on her junk before.

Renee slid the panties off her and tossed them to the side before sliding down between her legs. She spread the folds of skin apart and slowly licked along her slit from the bottom all the way up to the clit.

"Oh fuck." Bayley repeated, a little louder this time.

"I wish we could, but we don't exactly have the equipment here." Renee answered "This will have to do." She went back to pleasuring Bayley with her lips and tongue.

The cold metal floor of the van pressing into her back and her ass compared to the heat from her pussy was making Bayley feel incredible. So incredible that she knew that this was going to be over soon.

"Renee, I don't think… I mean, I'm gunna… fuck!" Bayley arched her entire body as she came hard. Renee lapped up her juices, then licked her pussy a few more times to make sure she got it all.

Once Bayley had finished, Renee moved up her body and placed a soft kiss on her lips before rolling off to the side.

"How was that for an experience?" Renee licked the last of Bayley from her lips.

"Holy fuck, Renee, where did you learn to do that?"

"I didn't tell you…? It was a couple chicks that Tom and I were watching." Renee smirked "I don't know how Hardy got through that."

"Me neither." Bayley answered

"I think our work is done for the night, don't you?" Renee said while Bayley began to get redressed.

Bayley nodded in return, pulling her hair up into a side ponytail and placing her signature headband back on her head. That was definitely an experience she'd remember for sure and she hoped that it wouldn't make work awkward now.

"I'll drop you off at home, and in the morning we'll see what Tom wants us to do."

"Sounds good to me." Bayley agreed

The van drove back toward town… just another night in Sin City.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was only 7:15 a.m. yet AJ Styles was walking through the front door of Calahardy. He usually didn't clock in until eight at the earliest, but today was different. Different, but not in a good way. Different as in 'something's bothering me and I can't quite figure out what it is' kind of way.

There was only other car in their part of the lot; a familiar Porsche that made AJ feel a little better. Tom was in and that was always a good thing. As AJ was told when he was hired, Tom was always approachable no matter when, where, or what the situation was.

What was bothering Styles was the case he'd recently taken on involving Matt and Jeff Hardy. The more he read his notes, and the more he thought about it, the more it saddened him. He knew that he shouldn't get emotionally involved, but it was tough. Having grown up with an abusive father, AJ had been fortunate enough to not get sucked in to the same temptations that Jeff was supposedly dealing in. But he knew that one wrong decision was all it would've taken for AJ to become another DEA stat.

He entered the agency. Tom looked up from feeding Beaker with mild surprise on his face.

"I know… I'm early." AJ said

Tom shrugged. "No big deal… you clock your own hours, I told you that when I hired you."

"Yeah, you also said you were always available… does that still apply as well?"

Tom nodded, dropping the now empty can of cat food into the garbage can next to Alicia's desk. "My office?"

AJ nodded back.

"Let me wash my hands and I'll be right there."

AJ went into the boss' office and sat down on the couch that had served at Dean's bed only a couple days before.

Tom entered with two cups of coffee. He offered one to Styles, who gladly accepted.

"Is this business or personal?" He asked

"A bit of both." AJ replied "Off the record?"

"Always." Tom answered. He valued that his employees trusted him enough to be able to come to him whenever they had a problem. Unless it had something to do with a case, it was always "off the record". "What's on your mind, Styles?"

"It's the Hardy case you guys gave me." He replied "I know I said I could handle it, but the stuff these guys have been through, it's been making me think, y'know?"

Tom nodded. Ironically, he'd had the same thought when Matt first walked into the office. He'd overheard the conversation between Ms Fox and Matt and had assigned the case mostly out of necessity.

"I understand, dude. But there is nobody else right now who can handle the file… I'm swamped with Likansuk, Cesaro just took on the McMahon file, Sara's got a missing persons investigation that she's just beginning and I can't split Bayley off on her own." Tom replied, "When are you supposed to meet with them again?"

"Matt is supposed to come in at eleven for a second interview and to give us a list of the people Jeff hangs out with." AJ answered

Tom scratched his day-old scruff. "Let me talk to Sara, okay? Take the interview, do the workup, and I will try my damndest to get someone else to do the surveillance. That's the best I can do for ya right now, man."

AJ smiled and nodded. "More than I was expecting."

"You figured me for the 'buck up and do your job' type?" Tom smirked

"Well, yeah." Styles answered

Tom's smirk disappeared. "If I ever find out who started that rumor, I will strip them naked and use them as the star on the staff Christmas tree."

AJ's eyes bugged out of the sockets.

"Styles, I'm kidding." Tom shook his head, chuckling a little. "Anything else you need to talk about?"

"I'm good boss, thanks."

"Cool… I'll do my best for ya, regardless." Out of the corner of his eye, Tom noticed that Bayley had arrived for her seven-thirty meeting. "Send Bayley in wouldja?"

AJ nodded.

"Hey kid, boss wants ya." He said as he passed.

Bayley smiled. "Thanks. First step today toward becoming one of you."

"Good luck." AJ went into his office to read the paper online. Still a Georgia boy, even though he'd transplanted to Nevada two years ago, AJ always kept up with hometown news. Every morning, he read the Atlanta Journal Constitution while having his coffee and getting ready for the day. He felt less homesick, you could say.

"You ready for me, sir?" Bayley came into the office.

"Bayley, please call me Tom. Sir was my old man." Tom reached into a side drawer and removed a small pile of papers.

"Okay… Tom."

"Good. Have a seat… would you like a coffee, tea, energy drink, water, before we start?"

"I stopped at Starbucks on the way in, but thank-you." Bayley answered

"Fair enough. So basically we're just taking care of some paperwork today and I'm going to explain a little more about what about is expected of you here. I know you got the five cent job description when Sara hired you, but consider today day one." Tom slid the stack of papers across his desk. "I need these filled out by the end of the day."

"Yes sir, I mean, Tom." Bayley answered

"Surprise you how familiar we are here?" Tom asked, making small talk. He could feel a touch of nervousness on Bayley's part.

"Well, yeah… it doesn't feel like work sometimes."

"I have a philosophy," Tom leaned back in his chair. "I want people to look forward to coming to work."

"Makes sense." Bayley answered

"I know we have jobs to do, and sometimes those jobs can be stressful, uncomfortable, and there will be times when you have to tell people things that you know are going to hurt." Tom continued "That's why I want everyone here to feel like they are part of a family. We may not always see eye to eye on things, but the key word is respect. You will make mistakes here. We all do. Just learn from them and try not to repeat them."

"Good advice."

"Thank-you. I stayed up all night working on that speech." Tom and Bayley chuckled together. At that moment, Bayley knew that she was going to enjoy working at Calahardy, even more if what happened with Renee the previous night was not a one-shot.

"Let's cut to the chase before the rest of the crew arrives." Tom continued "It is now the end of April. Six months from now is Halloween. By then, I expect you to have completed all the required courses required under both Nevada Law and be ready to take the Licensing board exam."

Bayley read along as Tom outlined the various rules and requirements.

"Will I have to pay all these fees?" She asked "It's, like, three grand."

"No. What happens is Calahardy pays all fees. If you pass, and I expect you will, then the amount goes into the books as a draw against your yearend bonus. At the end of the fiscal year, Irwin works out the agency's profit. A percentage goes back into the company and the rest is split amongst the staff."

"What if I fail?"

"Then you owe me three big ones, and you have to come up with the money yourself to retake the tests." Tom answered "But that hasn't happened yet. AJ was our last hire and he told me the test was so easy that I should try to get Beaker licensed." Tom laughed

"That's fair enough." Bayley scanned through the rest of the forms.

"Most of that is just background. I ran your name through the FBI database already, so there are no skeletons there." Tom said "Page seven."

Bayley skipped forward to that page.

"You'll need to sign it." Tom continued "Any more questions?"

"No."

"Until you're licensed, you technically can't do anything more than just ride alongs."

"Like last night?"

"Pretty much." Tom responded "Your job title right now is technician which basically means you make sure the equipment is working properly. If you get stopped by the law for any reason, that is all you tell them. If they press you, have them call me." Tom pulled several business cards from a small brass tray on the corner of his desk. "If you need more, come see me."

Bayley set them on top of her papers.

"So what will I be doing other than being a 'technician'? Bayley asked "If you don't mind me saying, there isn't a lot of equipment around here."

"Well, obviously you'll be meeting clients, taking interviews, doing the reports."

"Office work, you mean." Bayley clarified.

"Officially, yes. Unofficially…" Tom lowered his voice. "Did you enjoy last night's stakeout?"

Bayley nodded. Her pussy still tingled when she thought of Renee's mouth on it. "It was quite… uhm… uplifting."

"Good. I never send an agent out on a late night stakeout alone. Since you and Renee seem to hit it off, you will be tagging with her quite a bit. Consider that part of the on the job training." Tom responded "But that is between you, me, and Sara. As far as the other agents go; technician is the word of the day."

Bayley nodded.

"Now do you have any questions about what is expected of you?"

Bayley shook her head.

"Good to hear." Tom reached for his coffee.

"Renee did ask me to pass along a message. She is not going to be in until later today, so she wanted me to give you the reports from last night. She wants you to go over them and see if there is enough to go to her uncle right away."

Tom nodded. "What do you think?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you… you were there."

"From what I saw, the two cops are definitely not playing by the book. However, this could be an isolated incident." Bayley replied

"You feel that we should try to catch them again?" Tom raised his eyebrow at her. "Is that the gist of what you're saying?"

"Uh-huh." Bayley replied

"Okay. I'll talk to Renee when she arrives and see what she thinks. In the meanwhile, hit the books."

"Yes, sir." Bayley saluted comically.

AJ twiddled his thumbs as he waited for his interview with the eldest Hardy brother to commence. It seemed like forever before his new client arrived but finally the two were sitting across from each other in the office AJ shared with Renee.

"Thanks for helping me out, brother. I really appreciate it." Matt said as he put a final signature on the new client form.

"Of course. Do you have the list of names and places I asked for? I'm going to try to follow him and see what I can find out. If your assumptions are right, I will report back to you and give you some options to get him some help before things get too bad."

"Yeah, these are the two places he goes most often and a few of the guys he's been with lately. I have a gut feeling he's using and it's my job to take care of him, you know? He's my baby brother and he's my everything. I'll do whatever it takes." Matt handed over a paper to AJ.

"I totally get where you're coming from. I was in a similar spot a long time ago. Give me a few days to get some information and I will get back with you. Now, as far as payment goes, I'll need two hundred up front and we'll discuss further payment if I need any extra time."

Matt nodded before handing over a money order to AJ, and thanked him again. They said their goodbyes and AJ sat back in his chair, running his hand through his hair as he studied the list of names Matt gave him. This was going to be an interesting case, to say the least, and he'd have to find a way to blend in with the group of people Jeff was hanging around with without being suspicious. Two names stood out to him most and he raised an eyebrow.

"Jimmy and Jey Uso…" AJ read out loud "Oh boy."

After taking her lunch break, Sara was walking back into her office when Alicia looked up from the magazine she was reading.

"Tom needs to see you in his office." She said

"What now?" Sara grumbled, before nodding to Alicia and heading down the hall

She knocked on the closed door and waited a moment before Tom opened it and invited her in.

"I need you to do me a huge favor. Beaker has a vet appointment today and I had something come up. Can you take him?"

Sara groaned. Taking the cat to the vet was one of her least favorite responsibilities.

"Do I have to?" She whined, giving Tom her best puppy dog eyes.

"That doesn't work on me and you know it." Tom smiled at her "I'm sorry, but AJ is in an interview, Cesaro is out in the field and Renee isn't in the office today due to a late night stake out."

"What about Alicia?" Sara suggested "Or Bayley?"

"You're funny." Tom handed Sara the cat carrier.

Sara huffed but took the carrier anyway.

"You owe me, Tommy." Sara said as she walked away to go find where Beaker had gone to take his afternoon nap.

"I know, I know..." Tom called after her.

…

That afternoon Tom went downtown to pick up the suit he had dry cleaned for that night's dinner. He pulled into the strip mall and went inside. Moments later he emerged with the suit, and was walking back to his car when he heard a familiar voice call his name from behind him. He stopped, his eyes narrowing before he turned slowly.

"Seth." Tom nodded in the man's direction

"You got a minute? I need to talk to you." Seth strode across the parking lot.

Tom sighed and laid the suit over the seat before turning back to face Seth.

"What?" he asked

"Dean's living with you now?" Seth crossed his arms.

"Maybe."

"Look, can you just talk to him? Convince him to give me another chance?" Seth pleaded

"I don't think so. Dean is done, and I fully support his decision." Tom swung the key ring around on his finger. He didn't have time for this.

"Of course you do, I'm sure you're thrilled with this whole thing." Seth laughed "You've had your eye on him for awhile and now you have him all to yourself. Don't get too comfortable though, I'm going to get him back."

"Good luck." Tom chuckled

Seth's expression turned to one of anger and he got in Tom's face, pushing him against the side of the Porsche.

"You don't want to do that." Tom warned

"I do, honestly. If it wasn't for you and that bitch meddling into our life I'd still have Dean." Seth hissed

Tom pushed Seth hard, causing the younger man to stumble backward.

"Watch how you talk about Sara. You'd still have Dean if you weren't such a fuckin asshole and could stay faithful to one man for once in your life."

Seth charged at Tom, but Tom quickly countered him and Seth crashed into the side of the Porsche. Seth turned and glared at Tom before taking a swing at the taller man's face. Tom quickly caught Seth's fist in his hand and twisted his arm painfully.

"You REALLY don't want to fight me right now."

"I really… ow! Do!" Seth grit his teeth and seethed at the pain in his arm

"I'm gonna let you go, and if you're smart, you're gonna walk away."

Tom released his grip on Seth's arm. The younger man worked his shoulder a minute before turning to walk away. Tom nodded and went to get into his car. He opened the door and suddenly felt a hard punch to the back of his head.

"Motherfucker." Tom growled before turning around.

Seth was ready for a fight, and while Tom really didn't have time for one, if that's what Seth wanted that's what Seth was gonna get.

The two angry men charged at each other and Tom easily knocked Seth to the ground, falling on top of him and punching at him. Seth blocked his face with one arm and swung at Tom with the other. The two rolled around on the asphalt, hitting at each other for several minutes before a couple of bystanders came by and broke them apart. When they parted, Tom had had bloody nose and Seth's eye was black and blue. Both men's shirts were torn and their hair was a mess. They glared at each other for a moment.

"This is your last warning, Seth. Stay away from me and Sara and most of all stay away from Dean."

Tom got into his car and tore out of the parking lot in frustration. He could really use a drink right now.


	5. Chapter 5

Tom was so pissed off with what had just happened in the parking lot, that he uncharacteristically did not say hello to Alicia when he returned to the office, nor did he ask about any phone calls or other stuff that he normally would. He immediately stormed into his office and slammed the door.

"Fucker." He threw the garment bag with his freshly dry-cleaned suit on a chair and sat down behind his desk. "Fucker." He repeated

He paged the front desk. "Alicia, is Sara back yet?"

"Not yet. It was an extended game of 'Stuff the Beaker', so they ran late."

Tom chuckled. 'Stuff the Beaker' was the code name for trying to get the cat into the carrier. Sometimes it took five seconds, other times it involved the entire staff and a whole bag of cat treats. This appeared to be one of the latter.

"Okay… let her know I need to see her and did you confirm the limo and our usual table?"

"Yessir. Limo at eight, table at eight-thirty." She answered

"Thank-you."

Tom reached into the bottom left drawer of his desk and pulled out his secret stash of fortified Chinese wine. It had been a gift from one of his grateful clients last Christmas. There was maybe a third of it left. Tom poured a large shot and stared at it for a second. "Fucker." He said yet again, and then drained it. He was reaching for a second shot when the intercom buzzed from reception.

"She's back." Alicia stated "Shall I send her in?"

"Yeah." Tom quickly hid the bottle and shot glass and popped a couple of tictacs into his mouth.

Sara stepped into Tom's office. "I repeat, you owe me."

"Well, it was either that or you could've gone to the dry cleaners to get my suit and be ambushed in the parking lot by Seth Fucking Rollins." Tom retorted "I think you got the better end of the stick here."

"What? What did that fucker want?"

Tom briefly regurgitated the conversation, leaving out some of the more choice adjectives.

"Motherfucker!" Sara summed it up in one word.

"Yeah. Anyway, an update for you… Bayley is filling out her paperwork right now and everything is good as far as her position here."

"Position? Oh yeah, the tech job."

"Exactly… and as far as the staff knows, that is her job until she gets licensed. We can still send her on stake outs, but we will have to be careful about exposure." Tom replied

"As always… we did the same shit when we hired Renee and AJ so I don't see a prob." Sara replied

"I didn't think so, but you know me… Tom "cover my ass" Hardy."

"Yup. Anything else?" Sara asked "I need to run a couple errands before dinner and possibly stop some blood loss."

Tom smiled. Sara scowled.

"Do we have anyone available to possibly do surveillance sometime later this week? AJ came to me with some concerns about the Matt and Jeff incident. Something from his past, from what I understand."

Sara frowned again. "I'd have to check but, shit balls, this is not a good time."

"I know… you think Renee would do some solo work?" Tom asked

Sara shrugged. "Why don't ya ask her tonight or tomorrow?"

"Might as well." Tom shrugged

"I gotta run, if that is all the pressing shit." Sara interjected "I'll see you back here before eight. Don't drink all that booze in your desk before we go."

She laughed softly and left the office.

"What the fuck?" Tom half-snorted "I thought I hid it pretty well."

…

By a quarter to eight, everyone was ready for the firm dinner. Looking around, Tom smiled. Looking at how dressed up everyone was, sometimes it was hard to picture the staff doing what they normally did. Renee and Bayley were both wearing simple red dresses, Cesaro wore his work clothes, and AJ and Tom were both wearing suits. Tom only owned one, but AJ looked like he'd been shopping. Even Alicia, who often wore jeans to the office, was dressed to the nines in a silver dress with a string of pearls that probably cost more than Sara's entire wardrobe. Speaking of Sara, she outshone all the girls in a knee length black dress with royal blue lace patterns, and a pair of 6 inch black heels. She hardly ever dressed up, much less did her hair and makeup, and even Tom took a second glance at her.

"Okay, folks." Tom looked at his watch. "Just a quick reminder that this is a social event. Please do not discuss any open cases while we are at the restaurant since it is not a secure location. Anything else is fair game. If you do decide to drink, then please take appropriate transportation home. If that means also taking a cab back here tomorrow, then just get a receipt. The firm will cover you."

Everyone nodded.

Tom saw the limo pull up in front of the building. "Car is here… let's have some fun."

They dined at Gordon Ramsay's Pub and Grill. The trip took less than five minutes; that was just long enough for Tom to text Dean and let him know that he was going to be home late as well as telling him about the confrontation with Seth earlier in the day.

"Fucker." Dean replied

"At least we agree on that." Tom texted back. "Everything else good?"

"Yeah… if you aren't too drunk when you get home, wake me up… I need some advice."

"Sure. Laterz, buddy." Tom shut off his phone when they pulled up to Caesar's Palace less than two minutes later. He resisted the urge to look toward the blackjack tables in passing the casino, but he saw Sara glaring.

"Don't ruin the evening…" Tom dropped back to whisper in Sara's ear. "If anything, Fergal is the innocent one."

"Fucker." She whispered. Apparently that was the word of the day.

"Come on, Babe." Tom said as he led the group to the restaurant.

Soon the group was settled at their table and had placed their drink orders. Small talk ensued, but Sara wasn't paying much attention.

"How was your first stake out, Bayley?" Cesaro asked

"Oh… it was, uh," Bayley blushed slightly "it was definitely an eye opener."

Cesaro chuckled knowingly and sipped his glass of chardonnay, not noticing Renee place her hand gently on Bayley's knee.

"Has everyone figured out what they'd like for dinner?" Tom asked

Everyone had and placed their orders before resuming their chatter.

"I'm going to go freshen up." Sara excused herself and walked toward the restrooms.

Tom kept his eye on her and sure enough, she detoured from the entrance of the restaurant and slipped out into the large casino. He shook his head, hoping that there wouldn't be an altercation to ruin a relaxing evening.

Sara strode over to the blackjack tables, her eyes scanning across the dealers until they landed on the man from the photographs Tom had shown her. She sat down in one of the empty chairs at his table and pulled out her wallet.

"Hi there!" Fergal flashed a smile at the woman "Do you want to be dealt in?"

She nodded at him and threw a couple hundred dollars on the table. She didn't say anything yet, knowing he didn't recognize her from that night at the gym. She played a couple of hands as she studied him, before folding at an appropriate time.

"You're pretty good." Fergal acknowledged

"Thanks. My dad taught me how to play." Sara folded her earnings, double what she had bet, and stood from the table "See you around, Fergal."

The Irish man furrowed his brow, wondering how this gorgeous woman he's never seen in his life knew his name.

Sara walked back to the restaurant just in time for their food to come out.

"So?" Tom leaned over and whispered to her

"I won." She just smiled

"Of course you did. What did you do?"

"Didn't do anything. Just fucked with his head a little."

Tom shook his head and went back to eating his lobster. The meal continued without event, and after dinner was through the Calahardy crew parted ways. Renee and Bayley left together, Tom and Cesaro went to the bar for a few more drinks, and AJ and Sara went out into the casino before they separated. Sara found her way back to the blackjack tables and sat at an empty chair. Fergal noticed her and as he dealt her in, he struck up conversation.

"You're back!" He beamed

Sara glanced up at him

"Not a big talker, huh?" Fergal asked

She remained silent, and played her hand. Fergal shrugged and continued his duties. After about an hour of playing and continuing to ignore the Irish dealer, Sara had gotten her winnings up to about four grand. She was satisfied with that and was ready to call it a night, and began to leave.

"Hey, wait up." Fergal called after her, jogging to catch up to her

"I'm on break, do you want to get a drink at the bar?" he asked

"Oh, Fergal, I don't think I'm your type." Sara winked at him and strutted away, leaving the poor man confused once again. This girl had definitely gotten into his head, and he had a desire to want to know more about her but he didn't even know who she was.

A quarter after midnight Tom stumbled his way into the dark living room of his condo. He was greeted with a loud groan as he turned the light switch on.

"Dean?" Tom blinked

"Yeah."

"Oh… my bad, I'm sorry." Tom drunkenly fumbled over his words as he saw Dean laid out on the couch, in only his tight boxer briefs.

Dean raised an eyebrow and sat up.

"Never had a half naked guy in your condo before?" Dean laughed

"No… yes... I..." Tom shook his head and sat down next to his friend. "Wasn't there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yeah, but you seem a bit drunk."

"I'm fine, I told you I would talk to you when I got home and here I am."

"Well, I don't know. I've been thinking…" Dean trailed off

"About?" Tom pressed

"Seth. I miss him a lot, you know. I'm just wondering if I should give him a second chance. I know what he did was really scummy, but I love him." Dean sighed, running his hands through his shaggy hair.

"I see." Tom sat back and thought for a moment "I can't tell you what to do, but if you want my honest advice, he's not worth it. I know you have feelings for him but I firmly believe in once a cheater, always a cheater. Is he worth all that heartbreak?"

"I don't know. I just never have found anyone like him, and I'm afraid I never will find someone again."

"That's not true, Dean…" Tom placed his hand on his friend's shoulder "There's someone out there for you."

"Where?" Dean laughed sarcastically

"I don't know. Maybe you're not looking in the right place…" it was Tom's turn to trail off, his fingers tracing over Dean's shoulder

Dean turned his head to look at Tom, and before he knew it he was leaning in to kiss him. Tom didn't hesitate; he immediately locked lips with the younger man. The two kissed passionately and Dean pulled at Tom's suit shirt, his fingers fumbling to undo the buttons quickly. He finally freed Tom of his shirt, and slid his hands over the older man's chest Tom's hands went up to Dean's hair, tangling his fingers in the dirty blond locks. Their tongues danced over each other as they made out. Dean grabbed Tom's arm and lead his hand down to his crotch, his erection bulging through the fabric of his tight underwear. Tom rubbed his hand over Dean's cock as they continued to kiss, Dean moaning at the feel of Tom's touch. Dean sat up on his knees before resuming the heated kiss with his friend, and began to slide his underwear down. His cock sprang free and he reached for Tom's belt.

"Dean..." Tom whispered

"What?" Dean asked, trailing kisses down Tom's neck as he unbuckled the black leather strap and began to pull at it

"Dean, I don't...oh God..." Tom moaned as Dean licked his collar bone seductively "I don't think we should do this right now."

Dean stopped and sat back, looking at Tom.

"Why?"

"Well, you were just talking about wanting to go back to Seth, and we're both drunk. You're vulnerable, and I don't want to wake up in the morning and feel like a rebound."

"You're not Tommy." Dean stared up into Tom's eyes.

"Look, as horny as I am, and as good of a dick as you have I just don't think it's a smart move. If you want to re-evaluate when we're sober and it's a few weeks down the road, then I'll be glad to."

Dean sighed and pulled his underwear back up over his ass before sitting back down on the couch and crossing his arms.

"Look, babe. You'll thank me in the morning. Get some sleep"

Tom gave Dean a kiss on the top of his head before leaving for the bathroom. He was in need of a very cold shower.

…

Despite still being hungover, and borderline comatose, Tom still was the first to arrive at the office a few minutes before seven. To set a good example, he took a cab. By the time the work day was done, Tom would be sober enough (he hoped) to drive home, but not right now.

Dean had offered to pick Tom up, but after what had happened last night; only small parts of which Tom remembered, he needed to think about a lot of things. Was Seth right and was there an ulterior motive for letting Dean stay with him? Tom had never thought of Dean that way before, but that was then and this is now.

"We're here."

Tom snapped back to attention. "Thanks, buddy. Can I get a receipt?"

"Sure… it's twenty-two forty."

"Dumb question… can you break a fifty?" Tom asked

"I dunno, I just started my shift."

"Then my friend today is your lucky day. Keep the change." Tom handed the driver the bill and waited for his receipt.

"Thanks, mac… you have a good day too."

If Beaker was pissed about the previous day's trip to the vet, he didn't say anything. At least not after his breakfast was served.

"Y'know Beaker, I really gotta stop drinking like I was still in University." Tom sighed.

Beaker lifted his head from his food dish briefly to give him a 'whatever, human' look and then went back to eating.

"I figured you'd understand." Tom went into his office and put his head down and closed his eyes. With one hand, he groped around until he found the handle of the middle drawer on the right side of his desk. He opened it, and with his eyes still closed, rooted around until he found the bottle of aspirin that he kept inside. He dry-swallowed two of them, grimacing at the chalky taste, then capped the bottle and tossed it back inside.

He waited for the jackhammers in his head to go silent, and then grabbed the nearest file. It was Likansuk's financial statements for 2015. Supposedly, there was something in those that would show that there were some shenanigans going on. Tom had read the statements fifteen times at least and was starting to think that this case was a huge waste of his, and the firm's, time. He made a note to get a copy of these to Cesaro.

"How about I start my day with something that doesn't require me to think… just read." Tom leafed through the pile on his desk until he came to Renee's report on the Breezango surveillance. Tom popped the audio file into his computer and put on his headphones to listen while he read the transcript.

He smirked near the end when he heard heavy breathing near the microphone and since Renee was still speaking, he figured out who it was quickly.

"Someone enjoyed the show." Tom read the last of the case notes. At the bottom of the page was a brief message on a Post-it.

"Will discuss in a.m. re: continued surveillance or send file to PD. R."

Tom had an answer right away.

…

Renee and Bayley arrived together, and the two of them both looked a lot less rugged than Tom… and Sara… and AJ… and Cesaro… and even Ms. Fox. Probably because it was almost noon when they showed up.

Renee made a beeline for Tom's office.

"Morning, boss." She greeted him.

"Afternoon, actually. " Tom corrected her.

"Sorry… Bayley and I lost track of time. We stopped by a Starbucks after leaving the dinner and before we knew it, it was six a.m."

Tom shrugged. "It's your dime, babe. Anyway, I read your report on Breeze and Fandango and I agree with your assessment. While I don't think this was the first time they have done this, we do need more evidence. You and Bayley down to watch more gay porn tonight?"

Renee giggled. "I may have to twist her arm, but I'm sure Bayley would be okay with that."

"I figured." Tom replied, closing the cover on the file. "I also need you to meet up with AJ whenever you can. He's having an issue with this one new case and I mentioned that you might be able to help."

"Issue? What kind of issue?" Renee asked

"I'll let him explain it… just see what you can do."

"Sure thing, Tom. He'll just owe me one."

"Renee, if you can fix this, he'll owe you a dozen." Tom sighed

Renee left Tom's office. Tom stared at the next file for maybe one minute before he gave up. It was more numbers and his headache was back. Paging Alicia with instructions to hold his calls, Tom popped four more aspirin and lay down on his couch.

"Another day in paradise…" Tom waited for the aspirin to kick in and soon after, he dozed.


	6. Chapter 6

Tom awoke from his morning nap to the sound of a knock on his door. He sat up quickly and rubbed his eyes before inviting the person on the other side in.

"Morning, sleepy head." Sara said

"Morning." Tom grumbled as he yawned

Sara walked around the desk and sat up on the edge of it.

"You have too much fun last night?" she laughed

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Uh oh. What happened?"

"Dean uh….came on to me last night when I got home, and I don't know if telling him now wasn't the right time was smart or really stupid." Tom answered

"Well, he is just getting over a serious relationship. Do you wanna be a rebound fuck?"

"No, but I also wouldn't have minded a little action either." Tom sighed before putting his head on his desk. "I don't know what to do."

Sara ran her fingers through his hair soothingly, and shook her head.

"I don't know what to tell you, buddy, other than if you really want him, then go for it, but tread lightly."

"Yeah yeah." Tom mumbled, closing his eyes.

"Well, listen, I gotta go work on this missing girl case. I need to do some investigating into her work life and I just can't put my finger on it but there seems to be a lot more to this than what her man was telling me. I won't be in the office for at least the rest of the day, but if you need me call me."

Sara gave Tommy's hair one last run through before patting his back and walking toward his office door.

"Sara?" Tom raised his head slightly.

"Yeah?" Sara turned back to him.

"Be careful, ok?"

"Always. Later, babe."

Tom laid his pounding head back down on his desk and closed his eyes again, hoping to be able to get another nap in.

…

Sara grabbed the case file off of her desk; putting it in her black fringe backpack before grabbing her M9 pistol out of the drawer and putting it in the holster under her leather jacket. She left the office and hopped on her bike and drove off toward downtown. She didn't have many leads on this Emma girl, but she figured she'd start at her last place of employment in hopes they would have some answers.

…

Tom slept for another twenty minutes before he was interrupted again. This time, it was everyone's favorite Swiss Superman. (Office nickname)

"Tom, are you awake?"

Tom rolled off the couch and pulled himself to his feet using his desk chair. "If I say no, will you go away?"

"You wanted to go over some numbers from Likansuk?" Cesaro was all business at the office. Tom could not even recall the last time he'd made a joke.

"Yeah." Tom pointed to the desktop, cluttered with paperwork. "I got three sets of financial statements and I don't know where to even look."

"Three? How did you get three?" Cesaro asked, awe apparent in his mildly-accented voice.

"One from my source, one from the IRS, and one from the company website. I bought some stock when I took the case just so I could check them out. They're not publicly traded, but the company is still worth a tidy sum."

Cesaro snickered. "I knew you were a connoisseur of porn, but I never thought you'd buy into it."

"Dude, I own one share." Tom beckoned for him to sit down.

"Sure, boss." Cesaro replied "None of my business, anyway. I still just work for you."

"That you do."

"Now, when you said your source gave you a set, what exactly did he give you?"

"Oh God… everything! Revenue streams, projections, quarterly profit/loss statements…"

"That's all good. But do you have internal financials? Bank statements? Ledger accounts?" Cesaro asked

"They're in this shitpile somewhere." Tom responded

"Let's start there. Let's match up every deposit, withdrawal, and bank transfer that we can. We'll start with the general ledger and then work our way to the sales, accounts payable, and accounts receivables files." Cesaro stated "Everything should match up. If something doesn't, we'll take details and go from there."

Tom nodded his head, feeling a little embarrassed for not thinking of that himself. But that was why he hired Cesaro away from a top-ten Swiss bank to work in the agency.

…

Sara pulled up to one of the hundreds of strip clubs that inhabited Sin City and got off her bike. She sighed before heading toward the door. She hated strip clubs, not that she was against them, but she just didn't see the point in them. Look but don't touch? Not her cup of tea.

She walked in and looked around, attempting to find a dancer that wasn't busy with a customer. She saw a short blonde girl with pink tips on her pigtails and walked up to her.

"Hi there!" the girl's overly cheerful disposition instantly annoyed Sara but she forced a smile "What can I do for you? Lap dance?"

"No, actually. I just have a few questions.." Sara was cut short by the smaller girl in front of her, who instantly copped an attitude

"Are you a cop?"

"No.." Sara was cut off again

"Then you can pay for a service or leave, you're wasting my time and money"

"What's your name, Spitfire?" Sara sighed

"Alexa. Alexa Bliss" The girl replied

"Well, Alexa...I'll make you a deal. I'll pay you for a dance, if you answer my questions."

Alexa twirled one of her pigtails for a minute, thinking about the offer, and nodded to a chair.

"Why not"

Sara sat in the chair, and watched as Alexa bent over in front of her, spreading her legs as "Partition" by Beyonce began to play.

"Ok, first question. Do you know a girl who used to work here by the name of Emma Dashwood?"

Alexa did a twirl and writhed her hips in front of Sara, her arms going up above her head slowly.

"Yeah I know Emmalina."

"Good. Do you" Sara stopped as she uncomfortably watched Alexa straddle her "Do you uh, know why she left?"

"Yeah." Alexa began to grind against Sara as she took her strappy blue top off "She went to work for some porn company. Not as a porn star though, she wasn't that kind of girl. I can't remember the name but it made me laugh when she told me"

Sara looked at Alexa's collarbone as she wiggled around on the detective's lap. It wasn't like Sara didn't like girls, she was one to play with just about anyone, but again, she wasn't a fan of strip clubs and Alexa wasn't her type at all. She thought for a moment about all of the porn companies in the city, and only one with a "ridiculous" name came up.

"Was it Likansuk?" Sara asked

"Yeah that was it!" Alexa giggled before turning around and sticking her rear right in Sara's face.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be. Thank you for your help."

Sara sighed with relief when the song came to an end and Alexa climbed off of her. She fished a hundred out of her back pocket and told the girl to keep the change. Alexa nodded before skipping off to find her next customer. Sara turned and quickly left the club. This case just got a great deal more interesting, and she had another stop to make.

…

"$23,642 salary draw. J Lawson." Cesaro dictated

"Yup." Tom ticked the same amount on the page he was looking at.

"$19,135 paid to Con-Edison."

"Got that one." Tom ticked the number on the line immediately below the salary draw.

"Here's another $9,999 miscellaneous expense."

"Which I don't have here." Tom responded "How many is that?"

"I dunno… you're keeping notes." Cesaro answered

"That is thirteen." Tom mentally counted the entries. "And every time the same amount."

"The amount doesn't surprise me." Cesaro replied "There are stricter reporting standards once you start transferring over ten thousand dollars. This amount is five seconds of work… one dollar more and the money has to be documented from its source, and the sender also needs to be identified."

"Which would make my job a fuck sight easier." Tom bushed up his hair. "Is there any coffee left?"

Cesaro looked left. "Not in here. There might be some left in reception."

Tom glanced at his watch. "Never mind. It's five minutes to five. For the first time in days, I am not pulling any overtime."

"Hot night planned?" Cesaro joked.

"Hot bath, yes, but that is about it." Tom retorted

"Wow… you stud."

Tom and Cesaro shared a laugh.

"You want me to come in early and help ya go over the rest of this stuff?"

"I would normally say yes, but now I think I know what I am looking for." Tom leaned back in his chair.

"That's step one. Finding out the how much. Finding out the who, and the why, and the how is gonna take a lot more time."

"Time is something I got a lot of right now." Tom replied "This case is gonna either make or break me."

"Good luck. My office is across the hall if you need help." Cesaro answered

"Thanks; I'll see you in the morning."

...

Sara stopped at the door to a building that was behind The Mirage. She took a deep breath and walked in, going straight past the receptionist's desk and to the elevator, ignoring the dark haired woman's calls that she can't go back there without checking in.

She stepped into the elevator and pressed the floor she needed and waited. Soon the doors opened to the office floor, and she stepped out. She walked down the long hallway until she came to a closed door. Without knocking, she went straight inside.

"Sara!" The man behind the desk stood quickly

"Hello, James."

Sara said, coming face to face with the CEO of one of the largest porn companies in the country, her uncle. Sara ignored his outstretched arms and sat in a chair, propping her feet up on his desk.

"Still bitter, I see." James shook his head at his niece and sat back down in his chair.

"I'm here on business."

"I see. Well, what is this business?"

"A recent employee of yours has gone missing. Emma Dashwood, she just started working here a few weeks ago, and her boyfriend said she didn't come home Thursday night."

"Oh, I see." James scratched his head "We have so many employees, I don't keep track of all of them."

"Well, I suggest you start thinking." Sara passed her phone across the desk; a picture of the pretty blonde girl displayed

"She does look familiar. Let me make some phone calls and I'll get back with you."

"I'll wait" Sara stretched out, putting her hands behind her head as she leaned back in the chair.

James nodded before excusing himself. He left and Sara looked around the office. Her uncle kept it impeccably clean and pretty bare. She noticed a couple of picture frames on his desk and sat up to look at them. She picked the first one up and saw it was a picture of James' sister, Annabelle, who had passed away. Sara smiled at the sweet, smiling face in the photograph. She put the frame back down and picked up the second one. Her eyes narrowed at the photo, it was of James' youngest son, Connor, Sara's half brother Cooper, and herself. She snorted before rolling her eyes and putting it back down. Sara nearly jumped out of her skin as James walked back into the office, catching her off guard.

"I talked to a couple of my directors. They remember her better than I do. She was here on Thursday; she was doing her first shoot that was about six hours total, prep and filming time. She left shortly after, and no one has seen or heard from her since."

Sara raised an eyebrow at her uncle. "I've been told Emma wasn't that type of girl."

"She wasn't, at first. She was here as an assistant, but she liked the money and thought she'd give it a try. Maybe that's why she quit? It was too much for her?" James offered

"Yeah, maybe." Sara thought for a moment before shrugging. "Well, I better get going. Tommy doesn't pay me to stand around and chit chat."

"Sara..." James called after her but she kept walking "See you around, James" Sara left the office and made her way back to the first floor and out the door She leaned against her bike and sighed. She didn't have any leads yet, but she knew that man better than anyone and one thing she knew for fact was that James Lawson was hiding something. She kicked a rock and swore before getting back on her bike and tearing out of the parking lot, heading out of town. She needed to go think about her next step.

…

Tom had just gotten behind the wheel of his Porsche when his belt vibrated.

"Never a dull moment." Tom checked his phone. It was a text message from Dean.

"Hey Tommy… listen, I'm sorry about last night. I was way out of line coming on to you like that. You were right. I am going to see Seth tonight and maybe we can work things out. Thanks for being a friend and I'll talk to you later. Tell Sara thanks as well."

"The fuck you are." Tom put on his Bluetooth. "Ambrose."

Dean picked up immediately. "Ambrose Asylum."

"Deano? What the hell, man? From what I do remember about when I got home, I thought the advice was pretty spot-on about going back to Rollins." Tom eased out of the parking lot and into Vegas traffic.

"I know, but I have to try." Dean sighed "I still love him."

"Love is great. I'm all for it. What I'm not for is my best friend doing something totally stupid in the name of it." Tom sped up.

Dean swallowed loudly, but said nothing. Tom hoped that meant he was seriously thinking about what he'd said.

"Ambrose, we've known each other since fucking forever. Have I ever steered you wrong… and don't mention spring break!" Tom swerved into an almost empty lane so he sped up even further. The quicker he got home, the better chance of catching Dean

before he left.

"Well…"

"The answer is no, Dean. You've always trusted me before and you have to trust me now. Call that Chinese place we like, order us in some grub, and I will be home in ten minutes. Let's just talk, okay?"

"Okay." Dean answered

"Deano… trust me." Tom repeated "I'll see you soon."

Tom threw his headset on the passenger seat as soon as the call was done. "I need my fucking head examined."

He sped home.


	7. Chapter 7

Renee and Bayley sat in the surveillance van yet again. Same area, same targets, and in Bayley's mind, hopefully the same results. But so far, their quarry had not shown up.

"Maybe they are patrolling another area?" Bayley asked

"According to my uncle, this is their assigned area. If they had been rerouted somewhere else, he would have told me." Renee replied, stretching in the driver's seat.

"I hope they show up soon." Bayley also stretched out. "This is not the most comfortable car I've ever been in."

"As long as you're just a technician, we have to keep up appearances." Renee replied "If you ever decide to become a bona fide private investigator, we can actually use one of the company cars."

"That would be nice… although the back of the van is nice and big."

Renee smiled; she knew what Bayley meant.

"Not sure if we'll have time for that tonight, but once we crack this case, we'll celebrate." Renee rubbed Bayley's leg. Bayley shivered at the touch.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything, babe." Renee responded

"Well, I was wondering if this…"

"Hold that thought… our prey has arrived." Renee reached for her camera. "Quick, pop into the back and switch on that new mic Tom got us. I want to hear every word this time."

"Got it." Bayley answered

It took less than thirty seconds for the mic to be activated. Just in time to catch Breeze and Fandango planning their night.

"…can we switch it up this time?" Breeze asked "I feel like fucking a tight ass for a change."

"Sure, but then I get first shots." Fandango replied "You know the rules."

"Rules?" Renee laughed to herself. "These boys don't know the meaning of the world."

"Everything good?" Bayley leaned in the passenger side window.

"Crystal clear. It's like we're sitting in the car with them."

Bayley returned to her seat in the front of the van.

"Surveillance of officers Breeze and Fandango continues. September 17th, 10:56 p.m. Subjects are in an unmarked patrol car…"

Bayley tuned out Renee's routine dictations and focused on the two rogue officers.

"…surveillance continues." Renee shut off her recorder. "Now we wait."

"Only thing missing is the popcorn." Bayley jibed.

"That is not in the budget, girlfriend." Renee answered "But you can feel free to bring it up at the next staff meeting."

"And here comes their target, if they stick to the plan." Renee pointed a half a block down the street. Young, dark-haired, slender build, and obviously drunk… just like Perkins.

From the chatter that Renee and Bayley overheard, it was apparent that the plan was just that until they heard something that made both of their blood run cold.

"Hey, Breezy, you notice that panel van across the street?" Fandango asked

"Maybe, we gunna nail this guy or not? I'm horny as fuck, 'Dango."

"Strange time of night for deliveries, dontcha think?"

"Possibly, but if we don't get this guy, I'll be fucking your ass in about ten minutes." Breeze answered

"Only if you suck me dry first." Fandango said

"Screw that noise." Breeze got out of the car and approached the subject.

"Wrong part of town to be in on a night like this, don't you think?"

"Not for me… I live nearby."

"You been drinking?" Breeze knew he had been from the smell before he even asked.

"Maybe."

"I'm gonna hafta take ya in. Public intoxication, unless you're willing to help me out." Breeze escorted the young man into the back of the car.

"I know that guy." Bayley whispered "His name is Tye Dillinger. He goes to the same gym as I do."

"Well, now we know that Perkins was not an isolated case. I am sure that we got enough to bust them after this." Renee continued to photograph what she could without being spotted.

Bayley nodded. Through her headset, she heard everything clearly. Every grunt, moan, and curse was in perfect hi-fidelity sound. Unfortunately, it was also turning her on again. It got even worse after Fandango shot his load deep into Dillinger's throat. When he pulled away, she got a clear shot of his cock. Her pussy started to tingle again and she literally had to think about her grandparents to stop her fingers from flicking herself off.

"God, these guys are animals." Renee listened to the sounds through her earpieces while snapping away. "How have they managed to get away with this for so long?"

Bayley sighed. "Police don't police themselves?"

"But it's my Uncle John's precinct." Renee stated "He always tells the family he runs a tight ship."

"But he can't be everywhere at once, right?" Bayley answered

"I guess… looks like our boys in blue are done. Time for us to split. I don't want them to get suspicious. If we're made, Tom will get really pissed off. Shut down the equipment and let's roll."

Renee stashed her camera and recorder in the console. She was just fastening her seat belt when she heard someone's voice. It was not Bayley, though, but a man.

"Bad part of town to be in, don't you think?"

She looked over and nearly had a heart attack when she saw officer Fandango standing at her window, with officer Breeze just behind.

 _Oh fuck…_

…

"For two guys, we sure can put away the Chinese." Tom looked around his living room at the pile of Styrofoam boxes piled on his coffee table.

Dean burped, and patted his stomach.

"Really?" Tom gave Dean a scolding look.

"What?" Dean gave Tom his "I'm innocent" look.

"Between Sara's puppy dog eyes and your innocent look, is it any wonder my hair is starting to go gray?" Tom went to flick his bangs back, but let out a really loud belch instead.

"Hey!" Dean shouted

"My house, my rules." Tom stifled a second, smaller burp. "But I will excuse myself since this isn't Turkey."

Tom leaned back in his recliner, and reached for his glass of wine. He wasn't looking forward to the next part of the evening.

"If you need another beer, grab one now."

"I'm good." Dean replied

"Good, then I am going to start talking. Please wait until I finish." Tom took a deep gulp of wine. "Dean, I am not the nicest guy in the world. I tend to bring my work home with me and I deal with the worst in the world on a daily basis. But, I care about my friends, and I hate to see them make a rash decision based on emotion."

"You're talking about me and Seth, right?"

"Dean…" Tom glared at him.

"Sorry." Dean turned his attention to peeling the label off of his bottle.

"If you decide that what you really want is to be with Seth, then I won't stop you. But all that is going to accomplish is making Seth think that he'll be able to fuck around whenever he wants and you'll just keep coming back like a boomerang." Tom sighed "You're too nice a guy, bro. You deserve better."

Dean sniffed. "You're right, but…"

"But?"

"Why the fuck do I always end up getting hurt? Do I wear a fucking sign that says 'take advantage of me'?" Dean slammed the bottle down on the table hard enough to cause foam to spill out.

"Deano, c'mon." Tom was quickly at his friend's side. "You just have terrible luck with lovers. They start out cool, but for some reason they all become douche nozzles."

Tom could see a tear trickling down Dean's right cheek so he put a comforting arm around him.

"You're not the only one. I haven't had a decent relationship since George W. Bush was President." Tom rubbed Dean's back. "But sometimes life deals you such a shitty hand, that you have no choice but to bluff your way through."

Tom exhaled. He had not planned to discuss any of this so soon, but he felt that if he didn't, he would be kicking himself for days.

"Uh, Dean, about last night…"

"Yeah, I am so sorry about that. I overstepped every boundary we had." Dean interrupted

"You did, but I just wanna know. Why me?"

Dean's response shocked Tom. "I don't know, really. We've been friends for so long, and I've never thought of you any other way. When I said that I wanted to talk to Seth and you told me not to, I figured maybe that was because you wanted something from me. I'm apologizin' again if I misunderstood ya."

"Actually, bro, you didn't. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't letting the booze talk for you." Tom leaned in and kissed Dean on the lips. "As I said, I ain't the easiest person on the planet to be with, but I'm willing to give it a try if you want to."

This time, the tears that flowed from Dean's eyes were not of sadness, but of joy.

Tom scooted closer and held Dean without saying a word. He could feel his friend starting to relax; his body slowly melding with his own. Alone in his own thoughts, Tom remembered what almost happened just one night earlier and wondered if Dean would be as receptive now, sober, as he had seemed to be when drunk.

 _Only one way to find out…_

Tom leaned Dean back against the arm of the couch and continued to hold him, peppering his face with soft kisses. His body language seemed to show that Dean was shocked by how forward Tom had become, but he soon welcomed the contact and was quickly returning Tom's kisses with ones of his own.

Tom opened his mouth and let Dean duel his tongue with his own. For the first time in a long while, Tom started to get excited by the intimacy. So was Dean, if the fact that he was beginning to grind his crotch against Tom's meant anything.

Tom broke the kiss. "Not so fast, stud. I got other plans for ya." He moved so that he was now straddling Dean. He leaned over him again and resumed the passionate kissing, but this time his hands were quickly tugging at the hem of Dean's t-shirt.

Dean raised his arms and Tom quickly removed the garment. He ran his fingers through the short hair on Dean's muscular chest. He kissed Dean once more, while his fingers went lower to undo the faded jeans his friend always wore. Once again, he broke the kiss but this time it was to leer openly at him while he pulled the pants and tight boxers down. First just to mid-thigh, then past his knees, then to his ankles, and then finally into a tidy pile on the floor.

He moved back up Dean's torso, covering it with kisses on the way, until he was face to face with him. He kissed his lips to distract him for just a moment while he snuck his hand between their bodies. He gently brushed his fingers along Dean's cock and was rewarded with a deep moan from him.

"Like it, eh? I knew you would."

Dean nodded. Tom could already feel that he was starting to get hard from just the few touches.

"Don't come too soon." He whispered into Dean's ear then sat up, putting his weight on Dean's thighs.

"I'll try." Dean sighed

Tom began to stroke Dean off. Long, slow strokes from the base of his cock all the way up to the tip. Watching the head of Dean's dick appear and disappear into his hand was turning Tom on in a big way. He could only imagine what it was doing to his friend. Dean was rock hard and Tom could feel some wetness on his hand as he jerked him. The slow strokes were getting faster and Dean was moaning uncontrollably. His dick started to twitch and Tom knew he was close.

"Don't come yet." He repeated

Dean half-opened his eyes and sighed. His chest was heaving and a line of sweat had formed at his hairline. He nodded.

But then things changed. Tom's phone rang.

"Shit." He swore.

Dean opened his eyes and shot daggers at Tom when he saw that he was actually gonna answer it.

"It's work. I have to take this, but don't worry." Tom transferred Dean's cock to his free hand and answered the call with the other.

"Hardy." He stated, and then listened for a moment.

"You gotta be fucking with me… what happened?"

Dean looked down at Tom's hand working his dick. He was there. He looked at Tom, who seemed not to notice.

"It was a simple operation. What you do mean you got made?"

To Dean's shock, the angrier Tom got, the faster he went on him. Dean started to pant, his toes curling, and the muscles in his thighs flexing as he tried to stop himself from finishing. No good. He came with a loud gasp, and it was only then that Tom seemed to snap back.

He looked down in mid-yell at whoever was on the phone and saw the spots of jizz. Dean had shot, not only on his own legs, but on Tom's jeans, his very expensive leather belt, and his shirt.

"I told you not to… Not you." Tom wiped at the stains on his clothes. "I'll be right there."  
He hung up and looked at Dean. "Really?"

"Sorry." Dean hung his head.

"Fuck, I gotta change and go. There's a situation I now have to deal with." Since his casual wear was already stained, he wiped his hand on his jeans before running into his bedroom. He came back less than a minute later.

"I'll be back, don't worry." He grabbed his keys from the hall table and just like that, he was gone.

…

"You still haven't answered my question… what're a couple of hot chicks like you doing in this part of town in the dead of night?" Fandango leaned his upper body over the window sill and smiled at her. Were it a different situation, Renee might have found that smile sexy, but in this case, no.

"Like you, we're working." She replied

"I thought so." Breeze exclaimed "Hookers. Let's take 'em in."

"I assure you, 'officer', that we are not. We work for the Calahardy detective agency" Renee kept calm; one of her trademarks. Until help arrived, that was all she could do. "and we are on official business."

Fandango sniffed, as if he'd heard that excuse before.

"Call Tom, Bayley. Let him know where we are and tell him to get his butt over here."

Renee smiled sickeningly sweet at the pair of soon-to-be ex-cops. (So she hoped!)

"Yes, ma'am." Bayley obeyed.

"While we're waiting, why don't you call your chief? Your boss and our boss can maybe figure this out?"

"Good idea." Fandango really had no clue just how much shit he was in.

They waited patiently while Breeze called the police chief. Tom arrived first; about five minutes later, looking tres pissed off.

"You gotta be shitting me!" Tom parked his Porsche behind the van.

"Easy there… just who are you?" Fandango stepped between Tom and his agents.

"I'm the 'Hardy' part of Calahardy." Tom handed the cop his business card. "Just what the hell is going on?"

"We were staking out a suspect when we noticed this van parked here and these two ladies inside. We're just trying to figure out why they're here." Fandango answered. Behind him, Breeze nodded and starting edging closer to the van.

"Got a warrant, sunshine?" Tom asked "Coz if you don't, step back."

Fandango motioned for his partner to chill. "Take the bass out of your voice, sir. Once the Chief arrives, we'll see who's in charge."

Tom smirked.

It was scarcely another five minutes before a second LVPD squad car pulled up to the scene, also with a lone male occupant who did not seem too impressed with being called to a bad part of town in the middle of the night.

"Hey, Chief…" Fandango went to meet him, but was elbowed aside.

"Uncle John!" Renee squealed

"Uncle John?" Breeze mouthed "Oh fuck…"

"So what in the holy high hell happened?" Chief Layfield asked. Before Renee could answer, the police chief held up his hand. "You two go wait in your squad car. I'll be over to talk to you in a minute."

Breeze and Fandango, looking almost scared, limped back to their car.

"What do we got?" Chief Layfield asked

Renee looked at Tom for permission to reveal the results. He nodded.

"Dirty as week old laundry." She answered, softly so that only Bayley, Tom, and the Chief could here. "We caught them soliciting favors for sex a few days ago and we were out tonight to make sure that this was more than two bored cops trying something new."

The chief nodded. "As I suspected. Video?"

Tom nodded, "Audio, some footage, and a myriad of photos."

"I'm sold… I'll talk to them, get their side of things, and then send them on their way. How soon can I get a copy of your recon for the Commissioner. I'll need Foley's approval before we can do anything formally."

"Is tomorrow soon enough?" Tom asked

"Ten a.m. My desk."

"I'll have your niece deliver it personally." Tom responded

Layfield nodded, and then walked over to where his officers were seated.

"Love to hear that convo." Tom turned to his girls and scowled. Renee braced herself for the tongue-lashing that was to come.

"Well ladies, what can I say?" He turned back toward the cops. The conversation was becoming quite animated. "This is not how I planned to spend my night."

"Tom, look…"

"I was against this case from the beginning. Was it worth the feels from knowing you helped your uncle put away two bad guys? Sheesh, we could be having this conversation in booking right now."

"But we're not, Tom." Renee replied "Everything will work out. My uncle will make sure that the Commissioner nails these two to the wall."

Tom massaged his temples. Oh, to have either his aspirin or what was remaining of his Chinese alcohol in his hand right now.

"We'll talk in the morning. Just promise me one thing?"

"Tom?"

"You'll add five hundred to the bill for my time." Sighing and muttering to himself, Tom got back into his car and drove away.

"Now what?" Bayley asked

"Starbucks?" Renee replied

"Works for me."


	8. Chapter 8

The 6:30 a.m. alarm split the air with an ear-piercing scream. Tom, fresh from less than three hours of actual sleep, slapped the alarm off and reached for his glasses on the bedside table.

"Bloody women." He mumbled, remembering one of the causes of his lack of zed's. He'd only been away for about an hour, but his adrenaline levels had still been way too high to get to sleep right away when he'd returned. That turned into watching four episodes of "Bar Rescue" with Dean before his eyes were heavy enough to let him doze off.

"Those cops better be jailbait or I am going to be really pissed off." He mumbled, swinging his legs off the bed and immediately hitting his feet against the wall. "Fuck! Shit! Goddamn!" The lack of sleep had made him momentarily forget that he'd slept on the opposite side of the bed he usually used. That side was taken by a sleeping sexy beast by the name of Dean Ambrose.

Tom tiptoed around the room, getting dressed. He wore the same clothes that he'd changed into six hours earlier. As he was putting on his belt, he noticed several light spots near the buckle. He licked his finger and dabbed the spots, but even after several rubbings, the markings were still visible.

"Damnit." He mumbled, tossing the belt aside. It hit the side of the dresser and fell with a clang.

Dean rolled over and mumbled something like "There's no school today, mom, it's a holiday." before his deep breathing resumed.

"For you, maybe." Tom crept out of the bedroom before putting on his shoes… no sense both of them being cranky all day.

…

Sara was busy going over the long list of notes she had taken from the long night of investigating Emma's disappearance. She took a sip of her eighth cup of coffee and looked at the time. Six forty five in the morning and she hadn't slept at all. She couldn't. Something didn't feel right about this case, she felt off and couldn't place a finger on what was wrong. She decided to go shower in an attempt to wake herself up. When she emerged, she noticed her phone blinking. She picked it up and swiped the screen to unlock it then raised an eyebrow. She opened the dial pad and hit speed dial 3.

"Hello?" the voice of her partner answered after two rings.

"Tom? What the hell man? 13 missed calls. What's wrong?" Sara put the phone on speaker and placed it on her dresser and began digging through a laundry basket

"Good you're awake. I have a question."

"I haven't slept." Sara said, pulling a t-shirt over her head.

"Well, that's unfortunate. You taking the day off?"

"No, I'm gonna get some coffee and head over to Emma's boyfriend's body shop. I want to talk to him again; maybe I missed something the first time."

"Ok. Be careful, though. You need sleep." Tom reminded her

"Yes daddy." Sara said in a mocking tone, and Tom knew she was rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, your question?"

"Oh right! Do you know how to get cum off leather?"

Tom's question stunned Sara and she ended up face planting on the floor as she was putting her jeans on.

"Sara?" Tom asked as he heard the thud.

"I'm fine." Sara pulled herself back up. "You called me this early for that?"

"Well...it's my favorite belt and there was an accident."

"Accident, my ass." Sara grumbled "Coconut oil. Take a small amount and rub it on the stain then use a cloth to rub it off. And don't buy three hundred dollar belts, dumbass."

Tom chuckled at her response but noted the advice, knowing she was an expert in leather and certain stains.

"If that's all, I have to get going."

"That's it, thank you. Will I see you later?"

"We'll see. Later, babe."

Sara hung up and finished getting herself ready. She locked up her house before hopping on her bike and riding to the outskirt of town.

…

AJ and Renee sat quietly in their shared office, each busy with their own work, when AJ sighed and ran his hand through his long soccer-mom hair.

"Problem?" Renee looked up from the computer

"This case is frustrating me." AJ rubbed his temple with his finger tips.

"I've never known you to get frustrated with a case. What's going on?"

"I think I'm taking it too personally. You know, the similarities. I don't know what to do. Tom and Cesaro are swamped, Sara's still on that missing girl's case…" AJ trailed off as he turned his empty coffee mug upside down and sighed again

"Well, Bayley and I don't have a whole lot going on right now. Would you like me to help you?"

"I can't ask you to do that."

"I don't mind, and it'd help the rookie get some more experience. What point in the case are you at right now?" Renee slid her chair over to AJ's desk

"Well, I've interviewed the brother. I have a list of contacts the suspect hangs out with and I need to interview them, and eventually the suspect himself." AJ held up the list of names

"We can definitely help you with interviews and trailing. Here, let me see." Renee took the sheet of paper from AJ's hand and scanned the names.

"Hey, Bayley?" Renee called toward the door.

"Yeah?" Bayley poked her head in.

"Here, see if you can get some contact information on any of these guys and set up an interview with them."

"Sure thing!" Bayley bounced off down the hallway.

"Thanks, Renee. I appreciate it." AJ smiled softly

"That's what we're here for." Renee patted his shoulder before taking his coffee cup from his desk "I'll get you a refill."

Later that afternoon, Bayley bounded into Renee-slash-AJ's office. "I found one of the guys on that list." She squealed.

"Yeah?" Renee replied "Who and how?"

"That Neville guy… I found him on a Green Arrow fanboard. His handle is 'themanthatgravityforgot'."

"Cheesy." AJ answered

"I've arranged a meeting with him in half-an-hour." She added "But it's at this comic book shop over on Flamingo road. He won't come here; we have to come to him."

AJ and Renee glanced at each other. From experience, they knew that usually meant one of two things: either a set-up or a set-up.

"Good job, kid, but next time talk to someone before you start setting up meetings, 'kay?" Renee replied

"Okies." Bayley skipped away.

"The girl's good, but you're gunna need to rein her in before she oversteps herself and puts us all on alert." AJ replied

"Don't worry, I will." Renee stood. "I'll be back before we close. If he's as nerdy as I think he is, we'll have what we need from him in less than an hour."

…

"You were right… total nerd. All that's missing is the taped glasses and a pocket protector."

Renee and Bayley had arrived ten minutes early to the rendez-vous point in front of Cosmic Comics.

"Totally." Bayley replied

"He's all yours." Renee parked the van.

"Me?" Bayley's voice cracked. "I thought you would…"

"You made the meeting, you take it. It'll be good training for you." Renee answered

"But c-can I? I mean, legally?" Bayley stuttered a little.

"I won't tell Tom if you don't." Renee rubbed Bayley's thigh. "Just pretend it's an old high school friend you haven't seen for years. I'll be recording everything."

Bayley swallowed; her nerves finally starting to get the better of her. "I'll do my best."

"I know you will." Renee smiled, and that made some of the butterflies go to sleep.

Bayley exited the van and hurriedly crossed the road.

Her subject was waiting in front of the store, as he said he would. "Neville?"

He looked up and immediately looked back down at his shoes. Total nerd, she thought.

"We talked earlier...? I'm Bayley."

Neville looked at her again. She was quite sure that this was the first time that a girl was this forward with him. Under other circumstances, Bayley would almost find his awkwardness amusing.

"You said this was important." Neville continued to stare at the pavement.

"Is there somewhere private we can talk?" She asked

Neville motioned to the alley beside the store.

"Works for me." Bayley followed Neville. He stopped in the rear door jamb for the comic store and leaned against the concrete side.

"Whaddaya want to know?"

"First, you can relax. I'm not a cop; I'm not here to bust your balls for anything. I'm just here to get a little information."

"Yeah, you said that on the PM. What kind of info are you looking for?"

"First question… you know Jeff Hardy?"

"I might." Neville's eyes narrowed slightly. "What'd he do?"

"Nothing that I know of." Bayley replied. Rule number one… do not divulge confidential information. Lie if you have to, but always keep the reasons for your questions private.

"Then why are you buggin' me about him? I haven't seen him in weeks." Neville lit a cigarette and took a puff.

"Neither has his family… that's why I'm asking. They hired my firm to find him." Bayley answered

"You a dick?" Neville took a deep drag on the cancer stick, and then coughed harshly. Obviously smoking was a new vice for him.

"Even though I don't have one, yeah, I am." Bayley answered

Neville's attention momentarily shifted to between her legs before he found the earth interesting again. Bayley laughed to herself. Kid was obviously still living in virgin land, or his mother's basement. She didn't care which, as long as she got something usable out of him.

"Look, we think he's fallen in with a bad crowd. Have you seen Jeff with any of these people?" Bayley showed him photos of the Uso's as well as some totally random

people.

Neville quickly flipped through the photos. "No." He said curtly and made to hand them back.

"You sure?" Bayley had been watching his body language and saw how he'd tensed up at least twice.

"Positive." He responded in that same curt tone. "Now if you'll excuse me, I got other things to do."

Bayley grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Now listen, kid, I can tell when someone is lyin' to me."

"I'm not." Neville protested

"Just look again, okay? Please?"

Neville sighed and leafed through the photos again. Again, Bayley studied his body language and again she noticed the reaction.

"Sorry, I wish I could help ya." He said

"If you remember anything, please call my boss." Bayley gave him one of Tom's business cards. "His number is on the bottom."

"Yeah, sure." Obviously that was the last thing on his mind, judging from his tone.

"Okay then." Bayley returned to where Renee was waiting, still listening in.

"I got nothin'." She sighed

"I heard." Renee tapped the mic. "But you did alright for your first interview. Next step, start taking your notes for the file."

"I was always terrible at notes at school." Bayley answered

"Write down everything and make sure it can be read. Ms. Fox hates it when she has to guess what happened."

Bayley nodded and began to scribble a record of what had just transpired. Idly, she wondered if she'd get in trouble if she used words like "geek", "dweeb", and "nerd" in her description of the meeting.

 _Only one way to find out…_


	9. Chapter 9

Sundays were completely different around Tom's condo. Every other day of the week, Tom was up by six and out the door by six-thirty. A stop for a quick coffee at the nearest coffee shop, and at the office by seven at the latest.

When Tommy finally opened his eyes, it was nearly eleven in the morning. After everything that had gone on over the past seven days, it was nice to not have to think about much of anything. In fact, Tom's first thought of the day was "What the fuck?" shortly after an arm suddenly landed on his chest.

Tom checked and his two arms were both accounted for, and the arm across him did not have claws and black and white fur. Therefore, there was only one entity that it could possibly belong to.

"Morning, Deano." Tom turned on his side, carefully removing the limb in the process.

Dean mumbled something that sounded this time like 'Morning'.

They had been living together for less than a week, yet Tom and Dean both seemed to be totally comfortable with each other.

"You working today?" Tom asked

"Nope." Dean answered, already fully awake.

"Don't take this as rude, but do you even have a job? I haven't seen you leave this place since you moved in."

"It's slow right now." Dean answered

"Okay… what exactly are you doing now?" Work was not something Tom liked to discuss, whether it be his own or others.

"Construction-slash-demolition." Dean answered "You seen many casinos go up or come down lately?"

"Point taken." Tom answered "Anyway, today is my day off. Ya wanna do something?"

"Yah." Dean replied "You."

Tom smirked. "Nice idea, but I don't do cannibalism at this hour of the morning." He leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "I was thinking along the lines of just spending some time together today. I haven't been the greatest sorta-boyfriend."

"Me neither." Dean stared at the ceiling. "I know you don't wanna hear about him, but I can't stop thinking about Seth."

He didn't, but Tom just shrugged. "Good, bad, or kick his teeth in thoughts?"

"Everythin', man." Dean answered "How could I have…"

"Shhh, Dean. We've had this conversation before. You did nothing wrong. You have nothing to feel guilty about." Tom rolled on his side; touching chest to chest with him. "Seth obviously moved on from you, and now you're moving on." Tom kissed him again; a much longer kiss that they only broke when oxygen was needed.

"As always, Tommy, you're right." Dean sighed when their mouths separated.

"Don't say that, bro. My ego is the last thing I need stroked right now."

Dean's eyes clouded with lust. "Then maybe later I can stroke something else?" He whispered into Tom's ear. "I still owe you from the other night."

"Or maybe you'll get a repeat performance." Tom answered in the same slutty tone. "But remind me to get coconut oil either way."

"Coconut oil?" Dean asked "What do we… oh."

Tom's hand was under the blankets, doing things to Dean. Making him hard, making him forget about Seth, and most of all, making him love again.

They stayed in bed until almost noon, and probably would still be there right now, if Tom's cell phone hadn't gone off.

"Y'know, man, your phone is really starting to harsh my mellow." Dean half-cocked his head in Tom's direction.

"Be lucky it's only your mellow that's being harshed. Usually, my day is totally ruined when I get this." Tom threw back and covers and headed for his computer. "It's the security system at the office."

Dean sat up. "Oh, wow. Someone trying to break in?"

"I hope to hell not, but you never know about the idiots in Vegas sometimes." Tom replied

"Maybe it's the cat." Dean suggested

"Nah… The security company programmed it so that Beaker won't set it off. Usually either Sara or I bring him home for the day, but I guess she's still pulling a marathon session." Tom waited for his computer to boot up.

Tom clicked through the security cameras in the office, making a mental note that each

room was clear before going to the next. He noticed that Cesaro's sports car was in the parking lot, the Swiss man not one who took a day off very often. Tom was going to just finish the process of clearing the office and resetting the alarm when he stopped short, Cesaro catching his eye. He was checking the camera in Cesaro's office and he saw his employee leaning back in his chair, head back and eyes closed. His hand was slowly rubbing himself over his pants.

"Oh…" Tom tilted his head, watching for a moment. "Well alright then."

Cesaro didn't allow time for personal relationships and down time, he was the true definition of a workaholic. However there were times that he just needed some stress release and rubbing one out did the trick.

"Do your employees know you watch them jerk off?" Dean asked, coming up behind Tom and placing a cup of coffee on the desk.

"I'm not watching." Tom defended himself.

"Uh huh." Dean smirked "Whatever floats your boat, but if you wanted a show you could just ask."

Tom eyed Dean before closing out of the security program just as Cesaro was unzipping his pants.

"About that show…" Tom said and Dean grinned. As Tom followed Dean into the bedroom, he mentally told himself to remind Cesaro to reset the alarm next time.

…

Sara sat at her kitchen table, going over page after page of notes she had on the missing person's case. She had interviewed former coworkers, people at Likansuk, and Corey twice. She had gone through Emma's laptop. Nothing. She had no idea where to go now, there were no clues, nowhere to turn next. It was almost as if the girl had just vanished into thin air. Sara sighed and decided that it was time to take a break for her mental health and eat something. It was Sunday, after all, and if she worked too many weeks without taking a day off, Tom would probably have something to say about it.

As she was eating, her phone buzzed. She looked down and saw that it was an unknown number. She usually didn't answer such calls but something told her to answer it this time.

"Hello?" She asked

"Sara!" a panicked voice came from the other side "It's Corey."

"Corey? What's wrong?!"

"I...I'm in jail. They found Emma's body. I didn't kill her, I swear, please you have to help me!" Corey's voice cracked as he rambled on.

"Hold on, you're talking too fast. Who found Emma?"

"I don't know. The cops showed up early this morning, said that I was under arrest for her murder. She's dead, Sara, my baby is gone and they're blaming me."

"Okay…" Sara took a deep breath; feeling a knot in her stomach from the news that Emma was dead. "I'll come down there and talk to the police. I"ll see what I can do."

"You believe me don't you?" Corey asked

"Yes, I believe you. I'll get this worked out, I promise. Just stay calm."

Sara hung up the phone and buried her face in her hands and groaned. This had become a huge mess, but she had to fix it. Corey was rough around the edges, seemed like a douche bag at first, but after Sara got to know him she could tell how much he loved Emma and just wanted to give her the best life. He wasn't a killer, but that meant that there was a killer, and they needed to be found.

Sara contemplated calling Tom to brief him on the change of events but decided against it, knowing how he was probably enjoying time with Dean on his only day off. She was going to have to go at this alone.

"Fucking hell!" She said as she grabbed her keys and helmet and made her way out the door.

At the jail, Sara sat down with the two arresting officers and the head detective working the homicide case to explain that she was working with Corey. She showed them all of her notes and interviews with Corey but the officers were dead set against pinning the murder of Emma on her boyfriend. Sara was becoming more frustrated and excused herself to go into the bathroom to calm down. She didn't need to overreact and get herself arrested. That would definitely ruin Tom's day off.

She collected herself enough to go back into the room and ask about Corey's options. His bail was set at twenty thousand dollars, and Sara went bug eyed for a moment. That was a good chunk of change, but she truly believed Corey was innocent and she needed him out of lock up to prove that. Several hours later the bail had been paid and Corey emerged from behind a locked door.

"You didn't have to do that. I swear I'll pay you back." Corey gave Sara a hug, and she shuffled awkwardly at the gesture but under the circumstances she hugged him back.

"Don't worry about it. Let's get out of here." Sara lead Corey out the door "I'd give you a ride but I don't have an extra helmet. Take a cab, and meet me at my place."

Sara gave Corey money for a taxi and her address. He waved down a cab and the two made their way back to Sara's home. Once inside, they both sat down at the table with cups of coffee in hand.

"We have a lot of work to do, and it's going to be a long night." Sara explained "Drink up."

Corey just nodded and sipped his coffee. He needed sleep, but there was no way he could shut his mind off now. He'd have to rely on the hot caffeinated beverage to keep him going, because that's all he had right now.

…

When Dean said 'a show' he wasn't exaggerating.

Tom leaned back against the headboard and watched his roommate (he could not use the word 'boyfriend' yet) gyrating a few feet away. Although using "Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits" as his stripper music was not what Tom would consider music to get someone in the mood. It worked for Dean, though. He'd danced through "Song Sung Blue", "Cracklin' Rosie", and "Holly Holy", while dancing his way out of his shoes, socks, shirt, and jeans. Tom could only wonder what would accompany the removal of his briefs. In hindsight, it should've been obvious.

 _Where it began, I can't begin to knowing_

 _But then I know it's growing strong_

 _Was in the spring_

 _And spring became the summer_

 _Who'd have believed you'd come along_

Tom tried not to laugh to loud… Dean was actually very entertaining. Especially when the lyrics " _Hands, touching hands reaching out, touching me, touching you…_ " came along.

When Dean got to the chorus, it was obvious what he had in mind.

 _Sweet Caroline_

 _Good times never seemed so good_

 _I'd be inclined_

 _To believe they never would_

 _But now I…_

With each "bah, bah, bah" after Sweet Caroline, Dean pushed the briefs a little lower on his hips. Tom wondered how many more choruses he'd have to listen to before Dean was fully on display, then decided that it didn't really matter. He'd already seen everything Dean had to offer… and his sex-fuelled brain had already decided that he wanted a taste as well.

 _Look at the night and it don't seem so lonely_

 _We filled it up with only two_

 _And when I hurt_

 _Hurting runs off my shoulders_

 _How can I hurt when I'm holding you_

 _One, touching one_

 _Reaching out, touching me, touching you_

 _Sweet Caroline_

 _Good times never seemed so good_

 _I'd be inclined_

 _To believe they never would_

 _Oh no, no_

 _Sweet Caroline_

 _Good times never seemed so good_

 _Sweet Caroline_

 _I believe they never could_

 _Sweet Caroline_

 _Good times never seemed so good…_

By the time the song was done, Dean was totally naked.

"Wow." Tom applauded. "If there was someplace to stick it, I'd tip you at least a hundred."

Dean blushed. "You don't need to thank me. You've done so much for me in the past week, it's the least I can do for you."

"Still…" Tom licked his suddenly-dry mouth. "Get on the bed."

"Tom?" Dean asked

"Yeah… I want you so much right now, it's not funny." Tom replied "So either get on the bed willingly or I'll throw you by force."

"Yessir." Dean lay down and in seconds, had Tom on top of him.

"I know you complain that I always take the lead, but this time you're gonna love it." Tom licked behind Dean's ear, then down his jaw.

Dean sighed softly… Tom had found his most sensitive spots, and without asking.

That was something that Seth had never been able to do. In fact, Seth never did much of anything, come to think of it.

Tom played with Dean's nipples and those sensations went right to his groin. By the time Tom had kissed all the way down his chest and belly button, and past his treasure trail, he was rock hard.

"Oh, Deano, is that for me?" Tom said, his voice like velvet.

Dean nodded.

Tom gripped Dean and gently stroked his cock, exactly like the first time, but seeing just how turned on he was made Tom skip the foreplay. He swallowed Dean completely and started sucking him off.

Not expecting this, Dean thrust his hips upward. Tom gagged a little bit, but he soon took the control back. He held Dean's hips down with his forearms while his mouth and hand went to work on him.

"Oh, fuck…" Dean moaned "Tommy, I…"

Tom smiled and began to hum around Dean's hard-on. His own dick was starting to beg for some attention, but Tom ignored it for the moment. This time, he also ignored his phone when a series of five beeps told him that he'd received a text message from someone. He had more important things to deal with just then.

"Tommy, I'm there." Dean gasped. "You don't have to…"

Tom knew what Dean meant and he pulled off to look at him with disbelief. "If I don't, you may ruin another belt." Then he went back to sucking on him.

Again, Dean thrust his hips, but Tom was expecting it this time.

"Oh fuck, Tommmmyyyyyy!" Dean cried out and came hard. Tom swallowed as much as he could, but lost track after the fourth cumshot. He grimaced slightly at the aftertaste, but nothing he could do about that, except maybe to ask Dean to lay off the cigarettes.

Tom pulled off after Dean finished and went soft. He dropped onto the bed beside his lover and looked at him. "That was some show."

Dean smiled. "Thanks."

"The beginning wasn't the greatest, but I loved the ending." Tom pulled Dean into his arms.

"Tommy, I…" Dean hesitated

"Something wrong, Dean?" Tom asked

"I dunno how to say this, or even if I should, but…" Dean paused again.

"Just spit it out, man. If I have a problem with anything you say, I'll tell you. You know me that well." Tom flicked a stray lock of hair back from Dean's eyes.

"It's just that… well, I love you." Dean immediately looked down at his sweaty chest.

Tom was stunned for a moment. How long had it been since someone had said that to him? It was… well, Tom couldn't remember. Tom actually felt his chest tighten.

"You mean it?"

"Yeah." Dean answered "I think I've finally found the someone that I was meant to be with."

"Are you sure? No more Seth?"

"No more Seth." Dean repeated "I want to be yours."

"Dean, I don't know what to say…" Tom was at a loss for words. "It's been so long since…"

"Just say yes… please? For me?"

Tom looked into Dean's eyes and was it sweat or was there a tear in one of them? It didn't matter, really.

"Yes." He replied

Dean hugged Tom tightly and it was definitely not sweat.

"Thank-you." Dean kissed Tom when they broke the hug.

"You're welcome." Tom replied "We can talk about all that later, but I just gotta check that message."

"Aww… do ya hafta?"

"Hey, at least I didn't check it while blowing you." Tom pulled his phone out and checked the single message. "Oh, fuck… why now, Roman?" He exhaled loudly.

"Work again?" Dean asked

"Yup… one of my sources has info and wants to meet." Tom rolled off the bed and quickly changed his shirt. "This won't take long, I promise."

"I'll be waiting." Dean said, looking down at his still naked body.

"Be back in a flash." Five minutes later, Tom was driving down the Vegas streets.

 _This had better be worth it…_

"Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond, copyright 1969 Uni/MCA Records.


	10. Chapter 10

One-thirty in the morning. As a co-founder of the Agency, Tom usually left the late-night meetings to those under him, but tonight was an exception. The text he had received that morning was from one of his informants: without whom, the investigation into the shady dealings of Likansuk would be going nowhere fast.

Tom pulled up to the address he had been given in a plain black car. From experience, he knew how bad this part of town could get and it was certainly no place for a car worth more than what most people made in a year.

He checked the clock on the dashboard, quickly looked at his reflection in the rear view mirror and stepped out. Ironically, he was only a few blocks away from where former officers Breeze and Fandango had been doing their thing, but that thought brought him no comfort whatsoever. The feel of his .357 tucked safely into his waistband was a different story.

"Okay, Roman, you better not be late this time." Tom mumbled

Joseph Anoa'i, or as he was better know by his fans, "Roman Reigns", had been one of the first people to come to Tom's attention when he signed on to the case. Tom still didn't know a lot about the man personally, but the info he'd provided had always been one hundred percent accurate. Otherwise, this meeting would be taking place in the secure confines of his office at a more appropriate time.

Tom walked briskly across the empty streets and toward several nondescript brownstone dwellings on the corner. Standard procedure was to stand at the corner, try not to look like a hooker, and hope that Roman arrived before someone decided that he was a hooker and made him an offer that he could refuse. Surprisingly, that happened more often than not even though Tom did not consider himself particularly good looking. A few mornings he had even caught himself staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, wondering what Dean saw in him.

Out of his peripheral sight, he saw a figure heading toward him. Dressed in a long black coat over military style pants and combat boots, it could only be one person.

Tom waited for him to approach.

"You made it." Roman whispered

"Yeah… you really need to learn the word incognito." Tom gestured to his gear. "You stick out like Ron Jeremy in a frat house."

Roman shrugged. "I wasn't followed." He answered defensively.

"I hope not." Tom retorted "What do you have?"

"Good and bad." Roman answered

"Good first." Tom stated

"Found some more financial information that might help you… you ever hear of a guy named Vincent McMahon?"

 _Who hasn't?_

"In what sense?" Tom played it cool.

"He had some business dealings with Likansuk, but some of his other partners weren't too happy about it. There are rumors goin' round about blackmail… could be what some of those strange transactions could be for?"

"Interesting theory." Tom though aloud. He made mental plans to run this by Cesaro when he returned to the office. "Now what's the bad?"

"This is probably it for what I can get you." Roman passed an envelope to Tom. "I think they know something is up. They're locking down information left and right. If you need more, you're gonna need to find someone who can access from outside, catch my drift?"

Tom nodded.

"What about you?"

"I'm leaving town tomorrow." Roman answered "I'm goin' on vacation until the heat is off. If I can, I'll contact you when I return in a month or so."

Tom nodded a second time. "Good luck, then." He slipped a smaller envelope into Roman's large paw.

They split, each heading back the way he came. Tom had travelled no more than ten steps when he heard two pops from right behind. Normally, Tom wouldn't have thought twice about it, but this time he turned around. He immediately regretted it. Roman was face down on the sidewalk and even in the darkness, Tom could tell that Roman's vacation had been permanently cancelled.

 _Shit. Piss. Fuck. Cunt. Cocksucker. Motherfucker. Tits._

George Carlin's seven words you can't say on TV immediately ran through his brain and he started to run for his car, pausing only once to look over his shoulder to confirm that the shots had definitely come from behind Roman. That meant that the shooter or

shooters could be bearing down on him at any moment. Even though it would take longer to reach the safety of his car, Tom immediately turned down the closest alleyway and ran through it as fast as he could. His own gun was useless. If he knew for sure where the people who had shot Roman were, he might have been able to fire off a couple shots to scare them away.

"Thank fuck this is my case." Tom muttered softly to himself. "Otherwise…"

Tom came out the other end of the lane and saw, to his relief, that his car was less than two blocks away.

"Small miracles do never cease." For the next block and a half, Tom kept to within a foot of whatever cover he could find until all that stood between him and the car was a sprint across a single traffic lane. He quickly scanned nearby rooftops for any signs of human life. He saw none, and hoped that meant that he was safe.

Unfortunately, he wasn't. As soon as he stepped onto the asphalt, he heard several popping sounds exactly like the ones he had heard just before Roman went down.

"Motherfuckers." Tom pulled out his gun and fired four shots in four random directions. He heard something that might have been a curse, or someone shouting in pain, but he wasn't going to stop to find out for sure. He got to his car and had the door open when he heard more gunfire. The first pinged off the hood, the second clipped the passenger's side mirror, but the third got Tom in the right shoulder. He pitched forward, spilling the file across the bucket seats.

"Fuck!" He shouted. "Bastards!"

He heard a couple more shots and realized that lying there; half-in and half-out of the car was probably not the best position to be in. Thankful that the car's glass was bulletproof, he was able to get the door closed and locked with his foot. The tinted windows made it difficult for anyone to see inside.

Tom rolled onto his left side, fumbling for his phone which was in his trouser pocket while trying not to hit his injured side off anything. He dialed emergency and waited.

"9-1-1… what is your emergency?"

"I've been shot." Tom said, his wound throbbing.

"Where are you located, sir?"

Tom gave her the names of the two nearest street signs.

"We'll send an ambulance right away."

"You better send police as well. Whoever shot me is still out there." Tom's vision doubled. "This is not good."

"Stay with me, sir. Help is coming." The dispatcher urged.

"I'll try, but… fuck." Tom's head swam. "I'm losing consciousness."

"Sir… sir!"

Tom blacked out. As he faded, he was only vaguely aware of his screams when his bad shoulder landed squarely against the console.

 _Thank God I didn't send Sara…_

…

Sara looked at the clock and sighed. It was two thirty in the morning and she hadn't moved from her spot at the table. She let Corey stay the night and made him crash on the couch, knowing he was exhausted. He eventually fell asleep and it was just her in the dark, the light above the stove being her only visual aid. They had made little progress in Emma's case but they both determined one thing: Likansuk was responsible for Emma's death. Now to find out why they killed her, buried her body in a shallow grave out in the desert, and how to bring them down.

Sara made her way to her bedroom and changed into pajamas. She laid her head on the pillow and closed her eyes. No more than five minutes later, she heard her phone vibrating on the nightstand. She groaned and rolled over and picked up her phone. She saw the caller id and knew something wasn't right.

"Dean?" she answered quickly "What's wrong?"

"It's Tommy." Dean said his voice full of panic and fear. "He's been shot."

Sara sat up in bed, asking a hundred questions as fast as she could. Dean tried his best to answer them. Sara got the information as to what hospital Tom was at. She rushed into the kitchen and grabbed for the notebook on the table. She wrote Corey a note and ran out the door, not even changing out of her night clothes.

Twenty minutes and extremely high blood pressure later, she arrived at Mountain View Hospital and ran up the stairs to the fourth floor, the trauma unit.

"Tom Hardy." Sara said, out of breath as she slammed her palms against the nurse's desk.

"Hold on a moment." The nurse replied

"I don't have a moment! Where is he? How is he?" Sara yelled

"Ma'am, calm down please. I am looking up the information."

"Calm down my ass." Sara retorted

"Ma'am…" the nurse gave her a warning glance.

Sara groaned and paced back and forth impatiently as the nurse looked up information on Tom on the computer. It seemed like years before the nurse had found what she needed.

"Okay, Ma'am. He's in surgery at the moment."

"Surgery?!" Sara's eyes went wide.

"Yes, they are removing the bullet and determining if there are any internal injuries or if any major arteries were hit. He was bleeding badly and unconscious when he was brought in."

Sara felt her stomach and heart both attempt to jump through her throat. She felt as if she was going to throw up, and steadied herself against the desk.

"The waiting room is down the hall and around the left corner. There's coffee and a vending machine. The doctor will come out as soon as he is finished and explain more."

Sara nodded and made her way to the waiting room where she found Dean and AJ sitting silently.

"Sara!" Dean exclaimed as she walked in.

They didn't say anything, instead just embraced for several moments. Sara was never one to cry, always kept her emotions behind a stone wall, but she felt her emotions let go and she cried into Dean's shirt as she held onto him tightly. Dean was equally as scared and upset as she was. The two eventually parted and Sara took a chair between AJ and Dean. AJ went to make Sara some coffee, which she accepted even though she didn't feel like she could stomach it.

"What happened?" Sara asked, staring down at the black drink.

"He got a call from an informant and went to meet with him." Dean replied

"On a Sunday? In the middle of the night?" AJ asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Apparently. This guy had something, and it was vital for Tommy to meet him. Not even an hour later I got a phone call from police telling me he'd been shot and was being

taken to the hospital."

Sara sat silently, staring off in the distance. She tried to breathe and calm her pounding heart but she knew it was no use. Tom was pretty much everything to her. They had worked together for so long, he'd been there through some of her darkest times, he knew more about her than anyone did. He was her best friend and in many ways a better brother to her than her own brother was. She didn't know what she was going to do if he didn't make it.

AJ could see the wheels turning in Sara's head, and knew she was getting worked up. He placed a hand on her knee and gave a light squeeze. She jumped a little and looked up at him.

"He'll be okay, Sara." AJ assured "That man is a fighter; he won't let something as small as bullets take him out."

Sara attempted to smile but she couldn't.

"Anyway, most everyone is asleep but I called and left voice mails. Cesaro is on his way, and I'm sure the rest will be here in the morning." Styles added

"Thank you."

"AJ was the only one I was able to reach." Dean said quietly "I couldn't even leave messages for anyone else."

Cesaro arrived within ten minutes and the four of them sat silently. Small talk was useless and it was all Sara could do to hold herself together. The minutes turned into hours. At some point, Sara must've fallen asleep, although how that happened she couldn't explain, because the next thing she knew, it was almost ten a.m., the entire staff (excluding Beaker) was in the waiting room, and strong coffee was being offered to her.

"Any news?" It seemed like Bayley, and the coffee, had just arrived.

Sara shook her head. Even now, it was hard to talk.

"We've been here all night. He must still be in surgery." AJ answered "No one's told us nothin'."

"No news is good news, right?" Bayley added

Sara glared at her. "Bayley, please just… don't…"

"Fine." Bayley sat down beside Renee. Sara felt a little bad, but fuck it, this was not happening, right? She would soon wake up either in her bed or at her kitchen table, and the only corpse she had to worry about was Emma's.

"Thomas Hardy… anyone here for Thomas Hardy?"

Thirty minutes later, the silence was finally broken. Someone who looked medical was gazing around the waiting room.

"Here!" Dean shouted.

The doctor strode over.

"You're all with Thomas?" He asked

Seven heads nodded furiously.

"How is he?" Sara finally found her voice.

"We removed the bullet." He stated "There was some muscle damage as well as a broken shoulder blade. His collarbone also needed to be reset when it popped out of alignment when the bullet entered."

"Is that good?" Sara's voice went up an octave. "Just tell me is Tommy gonna be okay?"

"The surgery was successful, if that's what you want me to say." The doctor added. "The patient is resting comfortably, and will need to remain here for a few days to allow him time to heal."

"Can we see him?" Dean interrupted

"Mr. Hardy is still under sedation. Once he regains consciousness, I don't see why he can't have a visitor or two." The doctor answered

"How long will that be?" Sara asked

"It's hard to say. Different people respond differently. An hour or two would be my best guess. If you are going to wait, I'll let the duty nurse know. Someone will come get you."

…

Two of the longest hours in Sara's life finally passed and a nurse poked her head into the waiting area.

"Hardy?" she asked as her eyes scanned the room

Everyone lifted their heads to look at her. She looked a bit taken aback at the amount of people there for the detective.

"He is awake, but still very groggy. He may have visitors, but only two at a time please, and don't keep him too long. He will need to rest."

"Thank you." Dean said as he stood up. "What room?"

"412" The nurse answered

Dean thanked the nurse again and headed toward Tom's room.

"Uh, hold on." Sara stood and hurried after Dean. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To see my boyfriend." Dean answered with a sigh.

"I'm seeing him first."

Sara pushed past Dean and made her way down the long hallway, looking for the room number. Dean rolled his eyes before following her. He knew Sara could be possessive of Tom sometimes, especially in this case, but like hell he was going to let her be at his side first.

Sara found the room and quietly opened the door. Tom lay there in the bed, his eyes closed. She walked in, Dean trailing behind her and stood by the bed.

"Tommy?" She whispered

Tom opened his eyes and looked up at her, then over at Dean.

"Hey, guys." Tom managed a weak smile.

"Babe, you scared me half to death!" Dean rushed to the other side of the bed and knelt down, grabbing Tom's hand.

"Ah, I'll be alright." Tom squeezed Dean's hand "It was just a bullet."

Sara stood silently, watching the two lovers talk. She could see the relief wash over Dean's face as Tom became more coherent and somewhat back to his usual self.

"Sara?" Tom asked, turning his head to look at his partner.

"What?" the girl asked

"You're too quiet. That's never a good sign."

"You're an idiot." Sara crossed her arms, staring down at the injured man "How many times have we said never go out alone after midnight on a case?"

"Sara..." Tom began

"You'd fucking kill me yourself if I pulled a stunt like this, you know that." Sara cut her friend off and continued her tirade. "You should have called someone. AJ, Cesaro. ME."

"Sara..." Tom tried again

"One of us should have been there. We would've covered you, got those bastards. What in the hell were you thinking?"

"Sara!" Tom finally raised his voice, wincing in pain as he tried to sit up in his bed

Sara stopped ranting and looked at Tom. Dean helped him sit up straight, and Tom sighed before looking up at the girl.

"Yes, I am aware that I always tell my employees not to do business after hours, for reasons like this. However, I'm me. They got me, but they didn't kill me"

"They could've" Sara mumbled

"But they didn't, Babe." Tom said "Calm down."

"Calm down?" Sara's eyes went wide "Like hell. I've never been so scared in my life, Tommy. What would I do if I lost you?"

Sara choked up at the words, feeling tears spill from her eyes and roll down her cheeks.

"Babe..." Tom reached his good arm out to her and she sat on the edge of the bed, wrapping her arms around him as she cried. Dean squeezed Tom's hand, his own tears forming. He silently thanked his lucky stars that he was still alive, those two would be absolute train wrecks without him.

"Promise me you won't do a dumbass move like that again?" Sara sniffed as she sat up and looked at Tom.

"I promise." Tom nodded

"Good, because if you do, I'm gonna kill you myself."

Tom smiled, knowing she wasn't joking.

"I wouldn't expect anything else from you"

A knock at the door made the three heads turn. It was AJ and Cesaro, awaiting their turn to visit.

"You guys go home. Get some sleep. Come back when you're showered and not exhausted."

"Aye aye, Captain." Dean kissed Tom before practically pulling Sara away

Tom waved AJ and Cesaro into the room and AJ closed the door behind them. Sara leaned against the wall in the hallway and sighed.

"He's fine now, and he's right. We should go get some rest." Dean suggested

"I guess." Sara shrugged

She would go home and shower, but sleep was a foreign stranger to her. Not only was her best friend and boss in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound, she had a murder case on her hands and the people responsible for Emma's death were more than likely responsible for shooting Tom. Plus she had the cops' prime suspect in the murder currently crashing on her couch.

"Shit just got way too real." Sara thought to herself as she made her way to the elevator. .


	11. Chapter 11

Tom was in terrible pain. This was not new; he had been in more fights throughout his life than anyone else he knew, but usually he could do something about the unpleasantness that followed. Having to wait for a nurse to bring his meds wasn't fun, and neither was being confined to this little room with little else other than the TV for company. Tom almost wished he hadn't asked for a private room, but he was determined to continue working, no matter what.

The rattle of the doorknob interrupted Tom's thought waves and for a moment, he thought that the nurse was coming around with his pain pills. But alas, it was only Styles and Cesaro.

"Howdy, boss." AJ said "You're looking better."

"Barely." Tom sat up, wincing again. The doctor had told him that the tenderness would start to fade within a week or two. How he was going to survive that, Tom wondered. "Social call or have you discovered that the office won't run without me?"

"Bit o' both." Cesaro answered "I got the file you asked for."

Tom nodded. In the hours following surgery, Tom had been really doped up on painkillers. So much that he'd completely forgotten to have someone check out the car he'd been driving. Not that the car was a big deal, but the file Roman had given him, at last recollection, was scattered across the passenger seat.

"No problems?"

"We got lucky, boss. The cops impounded the vehicle right away, but we were able to get the file out of evidence. It doesn't look like the cops paid too much attention to it." Cesaro took several familiar papers out of his briefcase. Tom grimaced when he saw red splatters across several of the pages. He quickly looked away.

"Y'okay, Tom?" AJ asked

"Pain pills are wearing off." He lied

AJ's expression clearly said, "Yeah, right," but he immediately changed the subject. "Anything you need from the office?"

"Not that I know of." Tom replied "Are you going back that way?"

"Not if I don't have to. Ms. Fox is keeping the place open just in case, but no one really felt like going in." AJ answered

"Good thing Mondays are slow." Tom answered "All the cheaters are still passed out in

their beds, but there is one thing you can do… you are going in tomorrow, right?"

"Obviously." AJ stated "According to Bayley, that Neville kid knows something. Time to figure out how to make the nerd talk."

Tom raised his right eyebrow. "Nerd?" he repeated

"Bayley's word, not mine. She also called him a geek, dweeb, spazz, mama's boy, and also said that the interview ended rather abruptly and she was certain that he wanted to go back to his basement and beat off to internet porn." AJ added

Cesaro chuckled.

"Could you politely suggest to her to be a little less derogatory in her reports… even if it is accurate." Tom sighed again. The pain was getting to where he was tempted to hit the call button for the nurse.

"Will do, boss." AJ answered

"Cool. You read today's paper?" Tom handed over the front page.

AJ quickly scanned the major headline. "Nice."

"Yeah. Show it to the girls and take a bill out of petty cash." Tom instructed him.

"Gotcha." AJ answered "Take care, boss. I'll see you soon."

Once AJ left, Tom turned to Cesaro.

"You're really not in that much pain, are you?" Cesaro asked, and then pulled a chair bedside.

"That obvious, huh?" Tom replied

Cesaro nodded.

"You've been with us since almost the beginning." Tom said

Cesaro nodded again. "I was the first one you hired."

"Yup… Calahardy's been running for almost eighteen months and this is the first time I've lost someone." Tom's good hand clenched into a fist. "Tony, what should I do?"

Cesaro thought for a moment. Carefully choosing his words, he replied. "Boss, you just gotta put this behind you. We are in a dangerous line of work… we all know that. What's done is done and it's time to move on."

Tom nodded. Leave it to Cesaro to cut right through everything.

"How long are they gonna keep you in here?" Cesaro changed subject.

"Beats the fuck outta me, 'Tonio." Tom carefully leaned back against the pillows. "Hopefully not much longer."

"I hope you're right. The place ain't the same without ya." Cesaro stood. "If there's nothing else right now, I'm going to check in at the office."

"Not until I go through these files. This might be the link we're looking for."

"Link?"

"Roman said that the payouts may have something to do with Vince McMahon." Tom answered "But that still leaves a lot more questions than answers."

Cesaro nodded. "Would you mind me looking at the file once you're done with it?"

"Go ahead." Tom slid the file across the bed. "Why don't you take it and have a copy made. I really don't feel like looking at it right now."

"Yessir." Cesaro took back the file.

"Cool… there is one other thing, but I don't know how to say it without sounding pervy." Tom felt his face blushing.

Cesaro raised his eyebrows, confused.

"I'll just spit it out… we all pull our own hours, but you could please remember to reset the alarm system if you decide to work Sundays. My computer is linked to the security system at work and it went off." Tom stated

"No worries, boss." Cesaro answered

"Yeah, thanks. I had to clear each office individually and let's just say I saw something I really didn't need to." Tom hoped that would be enough explanation.

Cesaro also showed hints of a blush. He looked really uncomfortable.

"I shut it down before you unzipped." Tom said "If that's what you need, it's no big deal. I just don't want to see it again."

Cesaro nodded. "Off the record, I hope."

Tom nodded. "It always is."

"Okay, boss. You want me to stop by tomorrow once I've gone through this?"

"Give me a day or two. I need to figure out a way to work and keep everything secure." Tom looked around. "It may be a private room, but private conversations can still be overheard."

"I'll see what I can do." Cesaro went to the door. "You take it easy, boss."

Tom nodded. If only it were that easy.

…

For the fifth time since leaving the hospital and returning to Calahardy, Alicia straightened the top of her desk. Other than AJ and Beaker, the place was deserted and neither of them were good company right then. Even the office cat seemed to know that something was wrong with one of his humans and had stretched out on the couch in Tom's office. That was something that Alicia had never seen him do before. She started checking through the office's email account to see if there was any new business that needed to be taken care of. That's when she saw a large man with blonde hair and tattoos step through the door.

"May I help you?" Alicia asked

"I hope so. I need to see Sara Calaway immediately." The man responded in a voice that said he always got what he wanted.

"I'm sorry, sir, but Sara is out of the office for the rest of the day." Alicia answered "She will be in tomorrow morning."

"That is not good enough. I need to see her right now."

"Look, mister…"

"Jericho. Chris Jericho." The man replied

"Mister Jericho. If I could pull Ms. Calaway out of my tits and have her standing here just so I won't have to be insulted by you, I would. But I can't. Do you want to make an appointment?"

"Just give me her number!"

"Sir, it is against agency policy to provide our staff's personal contact information to a third party." It took a lot to make Alicia angry, but this stupid idiot seemed to know exactly what buttons to push. "If you would let me know what this is about…"

"Look, lady…"

"That's Ms. Fox to you."

"Okay, Ms. Fox. Your firm did some work for one of my clients who is now a person of interest in a criminal matter. Ms. Calaway also happened to bail my client out of jail and has apparently taken him somewhere."

"And you would like me to do what exactly?"

From Chris' tone, it was quite obvious that he was trying not to explode. "Could you please get a hold of her and tell her that Corey Graves' attorney would like to set up a meeting to discuss this matter. At her earliest convenience, of course."

"That I can do, sir. If you will please take a seat, I will pass that message on immediately." Alicia replied smugly and flipped through the office directory.

…

After Sara had left the hospital, she called Corey to make sure he was alright. She told him to make himself at home and help himself to whatever was left in the fridge, and she'd be home soon but she had a stop to make first. She went to her favorite dive bar, a dark, seedy, biker place she liked to go. It reminded her of a lot of the bars in Texas, and she often would drop in to get a bit of the hometown feel. The good part about Las Vegas was that the bars were always open, and she definitely needed a drink after the last twenty-four hours. She sat at the end of the bar, in the corner, and ordered her usual Jack and Coke. She sipped it, staring mindlessly at the news playing on the television above the bar. She let her mind drift to Tom, and a flood of emotions rushed through her. She was angry that he didn't have backup, even if he didn't want to call her he should have called AJ or Cesaro. She was both scared of losing him and thankful that he was okay. Lastly, she was worried about him. Tom Hardy wasn't one to take it easy, even after being shot and going through surgery. This wasn't her first rodeo with Tom getting injured and still insisting on working, and there wasn't any telling him different.

"Excuse me?" An accented voice tore her from her thoughts. "Is anyone sitting here?"

Sara jumped, startled at the interruption, and turned to face the intruder.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me" she groaned, her eyes landing on the blue ones of Seth's former fuck toy, Fergal Devitt.

"Oh, I didn't mean to startle you." Fergal smiled apologetically, "May I join you?"

Sara just blinked at him, and raised an eyebrow as he sat down in the empty seat next to her. Apparently this one wasn't a "get the hint" type of guy. He was going to need a

picture drawn out for him, and unfortunately Sara left her drawing pad at the office.

"I remember you from the Casino…" Fergal extended his hand "but I never got your name."

"It's Sara." The detective sighed, and shook his hand, not having the energy to be a fully loaded dick to him.

"Nice to meet you Sara." Fergal grinned before ordering a beer from the bartender, "You look tired, you got a case of the Mondays?"

"A case of the what?" Sara wrinkled her brow at him.

"It's a line from a movie. Nevermind" Fergal looked down at the bar top, embarrassed.

"Oh, sorry." Sara said "I'm not all here today."

"What's wrong?" Fergal questioned

"My partner got shot last night, I just left the hospital."

"Partner? You mean, like...life partner?" Fergal asked

"No… no, I'm not a lesbian, I'm a detective." Sara lifted her t-shirt slightly to reveal the badge she wore. "My best friend and partner was working a case last night and it went sour. Got himself into a situation."

"Oh… is he alright?"

"He'll live." Sara sipped at her drink. "Where is that accent from?"

"Ireland." Fergal grinned at the girl.

"Oh? Cool."

"And where are you from?" Fergal inquired, wanting to know more about this mysterious girl.

"Here, there...a little bit of everywhere." Sara responded

"A wanderer huh?"

Sara just nodded

"Why am I getting the impression that you don't like me?" Fergal asked after an awkward

silence.

"I'm not your biggest fan." Sara glanced at him.

"You don't even know me." Fergal frowned

"I know enough." Sara finished her drink and waved at the bartender for a new one.

"What does that mean?"

"Seth Rollins ring a bell to you?" Sara asked

"Oh...do you know him?" Fergal sat up at the mention of his former lover's name.

"Unfortunately. He was dating my friend when he decided one wasn't good enough for him."

"Oh my gosh!" Fergal exclaimed, putting pieces of the puzzle together. "Were you the girl at the gym that night?"

"I sure was."

"Oh... this is embarrassing." Fergal blushed "I can explain."

"Don't bother."

"No, please, you have it all wrong." Fergal pleaded, "I had no idea Seth was in a relationship. He never told me about Dean. I'm not that kind of person, I swear."

Sara bit the inside of her cheek and listened to Fergal try to explain himself. Normally she would have stuck to her guns and not gave the guy the time of day, but she was exhausted and had nothing left in her. She continued listening to Fergal tell the story of how he met Seth.

"...and after you and Dean left the gym, I immediately dumped Seth. I haven't had anything to do with him since."

"I see." Sara mused for a moment "Well, I guess I owe you an apology, Fergal."

"You can call me Finn, if you want." Fergal blushed again.

"Alright...Finn. I guess we can start over." Sara extended her hand.

Fergal flashed her another grin and shook her hand, before the sound of a cell phone ringing interrupted them. Sara pulled the phone from her back pocket and looked at the

caller i.d.

"Excuse me, I have to take this." Sara turned from Fergal and put a finger in her ear, answering the phone "This is Sara."

"Hi, Ms. Calaway, it's Ms. Fox from the office. I have Corey Graves' attorney here to see you and he is being rather, uh, adamant that he sees you immediately."

"Oh, yes, thank you. If you can have him wait I will be there in ten minutes."

Sara hung up the phone, downed her drink and pulled a couple of bills out of her wallet.

"Well, Finn, it was nice to meet you, again, but I have to go. I just got a call from my office and there's an important client matter I must attend to."

"Wait!" Finn called out to the girl as she turned to leave. "Can I get your number?"

Sara huffed and rolled her eyes before turning back to Finn.

"Sure, but don't expect much. I'm very busy, like all the time."

"That's fine." Finn smiled as Sara scribbled her number down on a napkin and gave it to him.

He watched as she rushed out of the bar. He was definitely going to be calling her soon, he thought that she was beautiful and that she oozed mystery and adventure and he had to get to know her better.

…

By early that afternoon, most of the staff had decided that sitting around wasn't going to heal Tom any faster, so with one or two exceptions, everyone had come into the office and were at least pretending that this was a place of business. In Renee's office, she was leafing through the recent developments in the Hardy case when she sensed another presence. To her surprise, it was AJ.

"I'm just going over the interview with Neville. He knows something, but we…" Styles held up his hand to stop her mid-sentence.

"I stopped by the hospital on my way in to check on our boss. He gave me a message for you and Bayley, and I quote…" He took a sheet of paper out of his coat pocket and began reading from it. "I'm not sure if I should be congratulating you or saying you got real lucky, but I'm assuming that either way, you haven't seen yesterday's paper." AJ also dropped a copy of last night's evening edition of the Las Vegas Sun; one of the last

truly independent newspapers in the lower 48, on her desk.

Renee looked at the front page. "ROGUE COPS INDICTED" read the headline and two-thirds of the rest of the page was taken up with a brilliant color photograph of officers Breeze and Fandango being put into the back of a squad car. Both men were in handcuffs and Breeze also appeared to be in tears.

"Wow." Renee whispered

"Yeah, wow." AJ replied "Again from Tom; 'Great job, but you gotta be more careful, especially with the rookie.' Where is she, by the way?"

"Ladies' room." Renee answered "She'll be back soon."

Soon was less than a minute. Bayley skipped into the office and stopped dead when she saw her supervisor talking to AJ.

"Bayley, you have way too much energy for nine in the morning." Just watching her made Styles yawn.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Styles replied, turning to the other woman. "Tom wants you to close the file as soon as possible and move on."

"I'll send the final bill to my uncle right away." Renee stated

"Cool… while you're at it, take Bayley to lunch." AJ took a bill from his pocket and tossed in on the desk. "Celebrate her first success, courtesy of our boss." It was custom at the agency for a paid lunch to be given to the new employees upon completion of their first case.

"Yessir."

The two grabbed their purses and headed out, getting into Renee's car.

"Where do you want to eat?" Renee asked

"Uhm….I'm not sure. I'm not too hungry right now." Bayley shrugged

"Well…" Renee looked over at Bayley and placed a hand on her thigh "I have a different celebration in mind, if you want."

"Oh?" Bayley raised her eyebrows "I'd like to see what you have in mind."

Renee winked at her before driving off. Several moments later they arrived at Renee's apartment. Renee poured a couple of glasses of wine and the two went upstairs.

"To your first solved case." Renee smiled, handing Bayley a glass.

The two clinked the glasses together and took a sip. They made their way to Renee's bedroom and sat on the bed, drinking the wine. When they were finished, Renee put the glasses on the nightstand next to the bed and sat back down closer to Bayley. Bayley looked at Renee as Renee pushed a strand of the brunette's hair behind her ear and leaned in for a kiss. Their lips met and Bayley parted hers to allow Renee's tongue to slide inside. Within seconds, both sets of clothing were discarded into a heap in the floor and Renee was gently laying Bayley back on the bed. Bayley moaned softly as Renee trailed soft kisses down her neck, to her breast, stopping to gently suck in one nipple while rolling the other between her fingers. Renee trailed her mouth down Bayley's taut stomach, her hands gently sliding along the younger girl's hips. Bayley slowly spread her legs as Renee reached her sex, lapping slowly at her clit. Bayley gasped as Renee began to slip a finger inside of her, all the while sucking on the swollen bud.

"How's this for a celebration lunch?" Renee asked

"I'd take this over food any day." Bayley giggled, her fingers entwining with Renee's blonde locks.

" _So would I… so would I."_ Renee thought, then went back to work


	12. Chapter 12

Less than a day into his hospital stay, and Tom had already learned three things. The first was that hospital food sucked. The second was that hospital beds sucked. The third, and most important, was that hospital cable sucked. If you add all that to the minor inconveniences of not having his cell phone, laptop, or anything resembling something to do… well, you get the idea.

"Fuck…" Tom groaned, tossing the remote control onto the bedside table. "This place doesn't even get the 24 hour daily keno feed from the Bellagio. I hope there's someone at the nurse's station." He pushed the call button.

In less than a minute, he heard padded footsteps in the corridor and seconds after that, the floor nurse stepped into his room. It was Layla. Tom smiled. She was one of the nicer nurses on the ward.

"Mr. Hardy… how are we doing? Do you need another pill?"

"Not at the moment. What I really need is something to do." Tom looked around the room. "I am dying of boredom."

"Nothing on T.V.?"

"Oh, please… almost every station is talking politics. You would think that being in Vegas, there would be at least one local channel that is showing something to do with gambling." Tom answered

"What can I get you?" Nurse Layla asked

"For starters, how about a pad of paper, several pens, and maybe a couple decks of cards to keep me amused." Tom responded "Maybe refill the water pitcher as well?"

She nodded. "I'll be right back." In the hallway, she smiled broadly. Compared to many of the patients in recovery, Tom was an absolute treat. Most people were grumpy, doped to the point of incoherence, or even worse, surrounded by overprotective family members and lawyers. Trying to do her job when everyone around the patient seemed to think that they knew what was best was distressing.

She quickly laid her hands on what Tom had asked for and was halfway back to his room when she encountered another familiar form.

"Is Tommy awake?" Dean asked

"Awake and kicking." She replied "Also bored out of his mind."

Dean nodded. "I figured he would be."

"I'm sure he'll appreciate the company. I'm just going to drop these things off to him."

"I can do that." Dean offered

"It's okay. I have to do a wound check as well, but you might as well follow along. Save me having to come back and get you. I'll sign you in when I'm done."

Dean smiled. He also liked nurse Layla.

"Here you are, Mr. Hardy. While I'm here, I might as well do your dressing check and you also have a visitor."

"A visitor? Cool."

The nurse set the paper, pens, and cards nearby.

"Someone from the office?" Tom asked

"Even better. Now lean forward." The nurse slipped the gown off his injured shoulder and started to remove the dressing.

"Don't keep me guessing." Tom retorted "Who is it?"

"Mr. Hardy." The nurse used her stern tone. "Hold still. I told him he had to wait until I finished in here, so the quicker you let me do my job, then the quicker you can have some alone time."

Tom huffed, but obeyed. It look less than five minutes for the nurse to remove the old dressing, check that the stitches were still holding, and look for anything oozing from the wound. Seeing nothing, the wound was gently cleaned and disinfected with rubbing alcohol, and then a new gauze pad was applied.

"There. All done." She smiled. "If you need anything else, just ring."

"Just my visitor would be great." Tom answered

"You have a one-track mind, Mr. Hardy… but I will send him in." The nurse stepped into the doorjamb. "The patient will see you now."

"Hey, Tommy!"

Tom suspected who it was, but seeing his boyfriend still brought a smile to his face.

"Deano!"

Dean literally ran to Tommy's side and kissed him like two prisoners having a conjugal.

Without either a word, or breaking the kiss, Dean removed his jacket and shoes and lay down on the bed beside Tom. There was just enough room for the two of them if Tom scooted over to the right side.

"How are you feeling?" Dean asked, finally separating his mouth from Tom's.

"A million times better since you got here." Tom replied

"Only a million?" Dean joked "I'm not doing a good enough job?"

"Since we've been together for only about a week, I'd say you're doing a great job." Tom kissed Dean's forehead. Dean curled into Tom's arms and they stared at the ceiling together; neither one of them needing to say anything. Just holding each other was enough.

"Tommy, if I tell you something, will you promise not to laugh?" Dean finally spoke up.

"Deano, you're my boyfriend. You shouldn't have to worry about that… unless you plan to tell me the joke about the priest and the hookers?"

Dean sighed, and then sniffed loudly. Tom knew what that meant.

"Dean, what's wrong? You know you can talk to me about anything." Tom instinctively pulled Dean closer with the arm that hadn't been holed.

"It's just that… when Sara called… I just… I couldn't…" Dean began to shake. Tom held him even tighter.

"I was afraid that I was gonna lose ya…" Dean rambled on.

"But you didn't." Tom whispered into Dean's ear. "And you won't."

Dean looked up at Tom. "It's stupid isn't it? I mean, I know what you do for a living and…"

"Shhh…" He was silenced when Tom put his finger across Dean's mouth. "It's not stupid. It just shows how much of a loving human being lies beneath the unshaven face and thrift store wardrobe."

Dean smiled. Tom smiled too, happy that there was no more drama for the moment.

"Thrift-store? I'll have you know these jeans cost forty bucks!"

"Whatever, lover." Tom sighed "Let's talk about something else."

"Okay… like what?"

"I dunno." Tom smirked "You ever come in your pants in a hospital before?"

…

Sara arrived at the office as quickly as she could and practically ran through the front door. Alicia peered over her glasses and looked up at Sara, then over at the middle aged man sitting impatiently in the chair across the room.

"Ms Calaway will see you now." the secretary stated

The attorney looked the detective up and down a couple of times before huffing in displeasure. He sighed before standing and extending his hand.

"Ms Calaway, I'm Chris Jericho, Attorney at Law." he said

Sara shook his hand and led him back to her office. She sat behind her desk and pulled out Corey's file as his attorney took a seat across from the desk.

"My client, Mr Graves, is currently under investigation for murder." Chris stated "I'm sure you're aware of this."

"Yes, I am." Sara nodded

"Good, then I am going to need your full cooperation and everything you have on your case regarding my client. Pronto."

"Listen, Jericho…" Sara looked at him "I have Mr Graves' best interest at heart as much as you do, but if you want my cooperation you need to cut the attitude."

Chris scowled at the girl but remained silent.

"Now, I have proof of Corey's alibi the night Emma disappeared. I have a pretty solid lead against her place of employment, Likansuk. They were the last ones to see her alive and with our other cases against them, they're looking like pretty strong suspects. I just don't have enough evidence to take them down yet."

Sara and Chris reviewed and compared their case files, and she called Tom at the hospital to get authorization to show the other case files against Likansuk to the attorney. By the time Jericho had left, mumbling something about the employees at Calahardy being "stupid idiots", Sara had a headache. After asking Ms Fox to hold all of her calls, she closed her office door and flopped back down in the chair. She was half tempted to go take a swig or two of the alcohol Tom kept in his desk but decided against it. She opened her laptop in an attempt to do more digging on the entertainment company, but the only thing she could really concentrate on was Fergal Devitt and their encounter at the bar.

…

Dean blinked twice. He honestly could not believe what Tom was suggesting. Of all the unsanitary things to do in a hospital, that was probably near the top of the list.

"Well?"

Dean realized that he must look like a dear in the headlights. He shook his head to quickly clear the mental blank.

"You really wanna know?"

Tom smirked again. "If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked." He looked down at Dean's groin.

Dean looked at his boyfriend, wondering if this might be the time he'd been waiting for. A time for him to finally repay Tom for everything he'd given to Dean in the past week.

"Not in a hospital, but yes." He replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"Sounds like story time." Tom rubbed Dean's thigh, sending familiar tingles through the younger man's entire body.

"Freshman dance at high school…" Dean started

"Girl or guy?" Tom interrupted

"Girl… now quiet if you want to hear this." Dean scolded Tom.

"Sorry, lover." Tom replied as meekly as he could.

"Anyway, it was maybe the second month of high school." Dean continued "Friday night, and everyone was getting into it. The music was great, free food and drinks (non-alcoholic of course), and a chance to get to meet people you would only see around school."

Tom nodded. It sounded like every other high school dance he'd heard about. He'd never been to one since one of his big problems was his shyness.

"They started playing some slow crap. I think it was the Celine Dion nonsense you couldn't get away from thanks to that movie, so I grabbed a coke and climbed onto the bleachers to sit this one out. I'm sorta zonin', when this girl comes over to me and sits down."

"Did you know which way you played at that point?"

Dean shrugged. "I dunno, man. Did you know at 13?"

"I had a girlfriend, so no." Tom replied

"Anyway, she sits down beside me and we start talking. As we're talking, she gets closer and closer until she's almost in my lap. That's when things get weird. She puts her hand on my dick and starts squeezing me through my jeans." Dean smiled at the memory.

"Talk about cut to the chase." Tom nodded "Go on."

"She starts whispering in my ear about how hot she thinks I am and how she's been noticing me across the campus. I'd never seen this chick before tonight, but hell it was a pretty big high school so whatever. She turns sideways and straddles the bench and it's then that the really short jean skirt she was wearing rides all the way up and I can see that she has nothing on underneath. Her pussy is just hangin' out for me to see. Between that and her kneading my crotch, I get hard really fast, bro, and that's when everything gets really weird."

"What can be weirder than… never mind." Tom suddenly remembers the question that started this convo.

"Yeah, she pops my fly then reaches in and does the same thing with the button on my boxers. This is in spite of their being five to six hundred people in the same room. She sticks her hand in my shorts and starts jackin' me off." Dean sighed softly with the recollection. "Dude, this girl was a pro."

"You city boys have all the fun. I didn't even have my first orgasm until I was 14." Tom interjected "Pathetic, eh?"

"Not really. This was my first." Dean shrugged "Anyway, she's goin' up and down, up and down, up and down, and I'm getting ready to bust when one of the chaperones walks by. Thankfully we're so far up that it looked like we were just talking. At least I hope that's what it looked like. Anyway, she turns to me like it's nothing… I later found out she'd done the same thing to six other guys that night, and whispers into my ear: "Shoot that hot fuckin' load for me, stud."

"And?" Teenage Dean wasn't the only one getting aroused. Tom felt himself go hard.

"That was it for me. I came." Dean said "I don't even know how much there was, but she wiped her hand off and left me sitting there with my pants open."

"So what happened next?"

"Nothin'. I zipped up and went back to the dance floor. Got a few strange looks, but fuck it. Never saw the girl again either."

"That was strange. Erotic, but strange." Tom answered

"For a first-time, yeah." Dean answered "Now can I ask you a question?"

"Does it involve me making you come right now?" Tom asked, reaching for the pole in Dean's jeans.

"In a sorta-maybe-kinda way." Dean answered "Since we've met, you've jacked me off and blown me."

"You're keeping score, are you?" Tom smiled

"Yeah. Two-nothing for you. The only time I tried anything, you said you were too drunk."

"I was." Tom answered "I didn't want you to think I was trying to take advantage of you."

"I never did. My question is why won't you let me make you feel one-third as good as I do when you're dickin' around with me?" Dean replied "I'm starting to feel like maybe I'm not good enough for you."

Tom's jaw dropped fast enough for it to pop. _Damn CTMD._

"Are you complaining? 'Coz most guys would give their right arm to be with someone who puts their pleasure above his own?" A hard edge had crept into Tommy's tone.

"No… I'd just like to know if there's somethin' I'm doin' wrong." Dean answered

"There isn't." Tom responded "Can't you just leave it?"

Dean sighed. "Maybe this isn't gonna work after all. We are s'posed to be equals."

Tom closed his eyes. "If you really want an answer, I'll give you one. You'll probably think I'm lying."

"I've known you since forever… why would I think you're lying?"

Tom looked deep into Dean's eyes. "You're sure?"

"Tommy!"

"I was raped!" Tom shouted "There! Are you happy?"


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: We messed up severely in this chapter, so it had to be deleted and reuploaded. Sorry for any confusion but I think we fixed it!

"Do you think we should be heading back to work?" Bayley asked "Won't the boss get a little suspicious if we take a three hour lunch?"

"I'm guessing that our activities are the last things on Tom's mind right now." Renee stated "I don't think Sara was in the office at all today, so whatevs… am I right?"

Bayley nodded.

"Let's clean this bomb site up, and then head back." Renee suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Bayley climbed out of bed. "Any idea what happened to my underwear?"

"I'm sure they'll turn up somewhere." Renee answered "If not, you can steal a pair of mine."

Twenty minutes later, the wine bottles had been put away, the takeout boxes were in the trash, and Bayley's panties had been found under the bed. Without any further delays, they left Renee's and drove back into town. On Freemont Street, about four blocks from the office, they ran into a familiar face.

"There's that Neville nerd." Bayley pointed

"No comic shops nearby." Renee pointed out. "Maybe he's on the job?"

"Wanna watch him for a bit?" Bayley suggested "He wasn't much help last time we met up."

"I doubt he'll be any more help this time." Renee replied "I have something else in mind."

"What?"

"Watch." Renee pulled up to the curb. Neville was too busy doing something on his Iphone to notice Renee until she was literally right in front of him.

"Adrian Neville?" She asked

"Who wants to know?"

"Renee Young. Come with me please." She quickly flashed her credentials at him. Hopefully the brief shot of her shield would be enough to trick the young man into believing she was a cop.

"Why?"

"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I don't think a pretty boy like you

wants to spend a night in lockup. I hear the drunks can get pretty frisky."

Neville looked around; to Renee it looked like he was hoping for someone to help him out. He sighed loudly.

"Okay." He followed Renee to the car. Upon seeing Bayley, his attitude completely changed.

"Hey! I remember you. You're not a cop!"

Unfortunately, it was too late. He was pushed into the back seat of the car by Renee, who climbed in right behind him.

"This is kidnapping!" He shouted

"No it isn't. You agreed to come with me." Renee replied "Bayley, drive."

…

Sara sat in her office, having come in around nine but had kept herself undetected so as not to be disrupted. She rubbed her eyes and stared at the computer screen blankly, the words all blurring on the document. She was typing up a final report to send to Chris Jericho before handing over the case to him. Murder wasn't something the Calahardy Agency was capable of handling, but the Canadian lawyer had agreed to keep her in the loop of what the turnout was in regards to Corey. She was so exhausted she could no longer focus on finishing the report, so she closed out the document and shut down the computer. She sighed, looking at her phone. A text message from an unknown number had been left three hours earlier, and she opened it, already having a good guess as to whom it was from. She was correct, and she read the text from Fergal. She almost deleted it without replying, but she really could use some company. All the events from the last several days were getting to her. What with her uncle's company being a key in the agency's investigations and Tom being in the hospital, she didn't want to be alone with her thoughts. She read the text again.

F: When can I see you again?  
S: I'll be out of here by eight.  
F: My place or yours?  
S: Yours

After Fergal had text her the address, she shoved the phone in her pocket with a sigh. Her stomach was rumbling and she realized she hadn't eaten yet. She grabbed her keys and headed out, informing Ms Fox that she'd be back in half an hour. She jumped on her bike and rode toward Capriotti's Sandwich Shop to grab a to go order, all the while her mind continuing to wander to thoughts of the blackjack dealer she had a date with later.

…

Tom and Dean stared at each other with the same look on their faces. It was like neither man could believe what had just been said.

"Raped?" Dean repeated "Tom, really? I mean… like, are you fucking serious?"

"Do you really think I would make up shit like that? What kind of guy do you think I am?" Tom yelled

"No. Never!" Dean yelled "What kind of person do you think I am?"

"Someone who doesn't get it, obviously."

 _Here we go again…_

"The only thing I don't get is why you would keep that from someone you've known as long as me." Dean replied

"Being raped by the quarterback of your collegiate football team after a night of drinking is not exactly a polite topic of conversation." Tom wiped a lone tear from his eye. "The only people who knew were my therapist and the police who looked into it."

"Did they at least get the guy?" Dean asked

Tom closed his eyes and silence ensued. Dean immediately felt like shit for getting into an area that was obviously very painful for his new boyfriend.

"This was the early nineteen-nineties, Deano. Colleges still made their chops on the backs of their student athletes. As soon as I named him, you can probably fill in the rest of the story yourself."

"Whitewash job, eh?"

"Three coats." Tom sniffled "As soon as the Dean learned that it was one of his star athletes… full scholarship, NFL bound, and all that… I was no longer the vic."

"That sucks, man. I'm really fuckin' sorry." Dean didn't know what else he could say.

"I quit school two days after the 'official' story hit the papers." Tears were now flowing freely down Tom's face. Dean could not remember ever seeing Tom cry. Ever. "Came out to Vegas and tried to forget about the name Mike Mizanin."

"Don't get pissed at me, but what you told me makes sense." Dean answered, choosing his next words very carefully. "I mean, you are a headstrong kind of guy and the men you've dated have all seemed to be very… um, weak? I'm not sure if that's the right word, but you know what I'm getting at? Right, Tommy?"

"Obviously." Tom wiped his eyes with his good arm. "I have to be in control. That's the only way that things will work for me. I told myself never again will I be the victim."

"Don't ever think that you're a victim." Dean interjected. "Look at me, Tom."

Tom turned his head. Dean had a soft expression on his face; one Tom had not seen before.

"I understand why you felt the need to hide your past from the people who care about you, but you're my boyfriend now. I love you Tom Hardy and nothing from your past will make me feel any different about you. At some point, I hope you'll be able to break down that barrier so I can make you feel as loved as you've made me feel." Dean said "But if that takes weeks, months, or even years… I've got all the time in the world."

Tom smiled.

"If it doesn't make you too uncomfortable, I would like to give you a hug and kiss." Dean nodded. "Is that alright?"

"I think I can handle that." Tom answered "But thank-you."

"We will get through this, bro. I promise you." Dean pulled Tom close. He was careful not to touch the wounded shoulder. Once he was sure that Tom wouldn't pull away, he brought his mouth to Tom's.

They kissed. It was not a tongue-wrestling, I'm-in-the-mood-to-fuck-you-hard kiss, but a nice, first-date kiss.

Both of them being Alphas, it was a nice change for the two of them.

They broke the kiss and stared into each other's eyes.

"Okay?" Dean asked

"Okay." Tom replied

The sound of the doorknob ended the tender moment. Thankfully, it was just the nurse.

"How are we today, Mister Hardy?"

"Ten thousand percent better." Tom stated, with a knowing wink toward Dean.

"Good. The last set of X-rays has come back and it looks like you will be released tomorrow." Layla smiled

"Best news I've heard in days."

"You will need to come back in three days for a wound check, and then three days after that to have the stitches removed."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Nothing medically, but the police have been asking to talk to you. We've been able to hold them off as long as possible, but once we release you, it'll be up to you."

Tom nodded. Ironically, he'd been expecting to have to deal with the cops a lot sooner.

"I'll take care of that." Tom answered, mentally writing a note to talk to Renee when he got back to the office.

"Otherwise, you have been one of my favorite patients. Let me quickly change your dressing one last time, and then I'll be gone. Would you like me to put the 'do not disturb' sign on the door?" She winked

Tom laughed. "Thanks, but," He looked at Dean, "I think it'll be nice to be around people again."

…

Bayley pulled up to Calahardy.

"Okay, Neville. We're here." She announced proudly.

"Just a chat, right?" Neville stammered a little.

"That's it. Everything you tell us is completely confidential." Renee answered. At her insistence, Bayley had taken the most indirect route possible to get to the agency without leaving Nevada. They even drove around the back of the building to the service entrance.

"I'll take our guest in and make him comfortable." Renee said "Why don't you do a Starbucks run?"

Bayley nodded.

"What do you want?"

"Me?" It took several seconds for Neville to realize he was being spoken too.

"Yeah, you." Bayley answered

"Chai tea latte with extra foam."

Bayley drove off, and Renee scuttled Neville quickly out of sight.

Ms. Fox looked up when she heard them enter through the back.

"Finally made a friend, Ms. Young?" She wisecracked.

"Material witness, actually, but thanks for caring." Renee retorted. Both women chuckled. "Is AJ around?"

"He's doing some paperwork and asked not to be disturbed." Alicia replied

"I just need a minute. Is there someplace I can stash this guy?"

Ms. Fox gave Neville a quick once-over. "Well…"

"It's just while I talk to AJ."

"If it won't be long, Sara stepped out to get dinner."

"Cool." Renee replied, dragging Neville into Sara's office and closing the door. Less than a minute later, she exited and went into AJ's office next door.

Less than five minutes after that, Sara returned with a bag of unidentifiable foodstuffs and immediately went into her office. It didn't take long for her to come back out looking confused and slightly pissed off.

"Renee brought him in." Alicia read her boss' mind. "She's with AJ."

Not being one to be overly polite, Sara barged into AJ's office.

"Why is there a nerdlinger handcuffed to a chair in my office?" Sara demanded

Renee shrugged "There was no room in the supply closet."

"Well, get him out of there before I leave." Sara huffed "I am not feeding him as well. Feeding that damn cat is enough."

"Yes, boss. I'll move the nerdlinger as soon as I can."

"Sooner, Young. I cannot enjoy dinner with an audience." Sara huffed again and folded her arms.

"How long?" Renee asked AJ, who looked at his computer.

"Five minutes?" He answered, questioningly.

"You have three." Sara walked away. "Not a second more."

"Styles, I know this case is giving you problems, but I'm getting nowhere with this guy. Can you talk to him and see if you can break through? This might be Jeff's only chance."

AJ looked like he'd rather have a prostate exam than do what Renee asked.

"I'll talk to him." AJ gulped loudly. "But you ain't goin' nowhere."

"I told you I'll be with you. As soon as Bayley returns with Starbucks, we'll get started." Renee replied

…

Cesaro looked at the stack of files from Tom piled on his kitchen counter. He stood there, sipping brandy and flipping through page after page. As well as the files from his boss, Cesaro had copies of all the other work Calahardy had done against Likansuk, past and present. With Tom being gone Cesaro had swiped them from the other detectives' offices. There was something eerily familiar about these cases, and Cesaro needed to go over them all one good time before he made any assumptions. He closed the last file with a sigh and pulled out his cell phone, searching his contacts. He scrolled through his

list until he came to 'W'. After only a second or two of hesitation, he dialed the number.

"Hello?" a voice came on the other end.

"Dean?" Ceasro asked

"No, this is Sam." the voice of Sam Winchester replied

"Oh, right, my apologies. Listen, I was hoping I wouldn't need to call you for assistance ever again, but I think your services are needed."

Sam put the phone on speaker and the brothers listened to Cesaro explain the situation. They confirmed that something suspicious was going on and immediately left the bunker.

"Vegas, baby!" Dean exclaimed as he revved up the Impala's engine.


	14. Chapter 14

Sara huffed again at the obviously nervous man cuffed to a chair in her office. She was pretty damn sure that the three minutes were up. She looked down at her dinner for the fifth time, hungry as hell, but not willing to eat in front of him. She looked at her watch again. If she was going to make her eight o'clock rendez-vous with Fergal, she needed to be out of the office by seven-thirty and that was exactly twenty-seven minutes from now.

Renee came for him while Sara was debating about storming next door and demanding what the fuck was taking so long.

"About time. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I do have a life outside the office."

"Sorry." Renee tried to not laugh in her boss' face.

"Just go."

Renee removed the handcuffs and Sara was soon alone with her dinner.

"Finally." She grumbled before diving in.

Of the three people crammed into the office that AJ and Renee shared, it was hard to figure out who was the most nervous. It was probably a toss-up between AJ and Neville.

"Your case, Styles… you gonna say something or just glare?" The silence was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

AJ gulped. He finally spoke, and to his credit, it sounded like he was in control of things.

"Listen, Adrian… can I call you that?"

"It's my name." He replied

I'm Allen… people call me AJ around here."

Neville's body language indicated that he clearly didn't give a shit what people called him.

"This is the situation. We were hired by Matt Hardy because he is concerned that his brother Jeff might be falling in with the wrong crowd. Your name came up as someone who might be able to help. I am not saying that you're one of them, but we just need your help."

"I told them girls I didn't know anything. Can I just go?" Neville seemed to become more nervous the longer the interview went on.

AJ decided to try another tactic. "Renee, could you leave us alone for a moment?"

"Sure thing, AJ." She answered "I'll see what's taking Bayley so long to get the Starbucks."

Once they were alone…

"Listen Adrian, do you have any brothers?"

He shook his head. "Only child."

"Me too." AJ replied 'But I have a couple friends who are brothers in every other sense of the word. If I knew that one of them was getting into something that could screw up his life really badly or maybe even kill him, I would do everything in my power to help. Wouldn't you?"

"Well, yeah."

AJ pulled a file from his desk drawer and set it down on the blotter. "I could get in a lot of trouble for telling you this, but the reason your name came up is that Matt cares about you too."

"He does? I mean, he does."

"Yeah. Almost as much as he cares for Jeff. He doesn't want anything to happen to either of you."

"I can take care of myself." The tough-guy façade was starting to show cracks. AJ's plan was working.

"Looking at you, I wouldn't want to mess with you in a dark alley, that's for sure, but wouldn't it be nice to know that there is someone who's got your back?"

"Well, uhm…"

"Baron Corbin, Jimmy and Jey Uso… they're the ones we want to find. Just give me an address... for Jeff's sake, please?"

"I ain't a rat." Neville stated "Besides, what happens if they find out I been talking to you?"

"We have connections with LVPD." AJ answered _At least I hope we do._ "We can help you out."

Neville sighed. "Promise?"

"I promise." AJ answered

"Got a pen?"

They talked until after midnight, only stopping when Renee and Bayley brought the Starbucks. By the time Neville was finished, they had a list of dealers, pushers, suppliers, drops, safe houses… everything needed to shut down the drug trade in the area. The only question was: would it be enough to help Jeff?

…

The next morning Sara awoke to her alarm going off. She groaned and reached for her phone to shut off the annoying sound. She cracked one eye open and looked around. For a moment she didn't recognize the apartment she was in. She felt an arm snake around her waist and a warm body curl up behind her.

"Good morning." Fergal whispered in her ear.

Sara didn't reply. She was processing everything that had happened leading up to her being naked in bed next to Fergal Devitt. She remembered she was pretty buzzed and after she'd kissed him, he drove them back to his place.

"I…" Sara tried to find the right way to say what she needed to without sounding too blatant. "I have to get to work."

"Ok. Do you want me to make you some coffee?" Fergal asked, kissing the back of her neck.

"That'd be great, actually." she said, pulling away and sitting up, keeping the sheet wrapped around her.

"I'll have it ready in a few. You're welcome to use my shower if you'd like." Fergal said, getting up and throwing his boxers on.

Sara gave a forced smile at him as he left the room. She threw herself back down on the bed and groaned, her fingers covering her face.

"What have I done?" she asked to the ceiling

She got up and took a quick shower before dressing in yesterday's clothes. She emerged and found her way to the kitchen, where Fergal was waiting with a travel mug of coffee for her.

"I didn't know if you wanted cream or sugar." he said, holding the cup out to her

"I like it black, thank you." Sara took the beverage and placed the lid on top "I'll return the cup to you."

"Don't worry about it. I hope I would be seeing you again anyway." Fergal smiled

"Uh...sure." Sara looked at her phone, a text from Alicia coming through, "I have to go, but I'll talk to you later."

"Have a good day!" Fergal called after her as she hurried out the door

She made her way to the office as quick as she could. Fifteen minutes later, she walked through the front door. Everyone was standing in the waiting room, around Ms Fox's desk, having the morning meeting. AJ had taken over since Tom and Sara weren't there. All of the detectives heads swiveled to the door as Sara walked in.

"You're late." Ms Fox stated

"Yes, I know." Sara sighed "Bike troubles, I had to walk."

"Uh-huh." Renee said, giving Bayley a wink and whispering "She's wearing the same clothes from yesterday. Bike troubles my ass."

Sara shot a glare at Renee before plopping herself down in a chair and sipping what was left of her coffee.

"We were just discussing today's agenda. Tom is going to be released from the hospital sometime today, so I want everything more in order than ever. We all know he will come straight here the second he gets out of that place, and he doesn't need any extra stress on him."

All heads nodded in agreement.

"Also, Cesaro has something he'd like to share before we begin our day so I'll give the floor over to him." AJ stood back and nodded to Cesaro.

"I reviewed everyone's cases against Likansuk last night, and something isn't adding up." Cesaro began "So I've called in a couple of…"

Cesaro was interrupted by the chime of the door being opened. Everyone turned to the man walking through. He was tall, wore a flannel button down shirt and jeans. He looked around at everyone in the room before his eyes landed on Cesaro.

"Antonio, my friend…" the stranger grinned, walking toward Cesaro, "Good to see you again."

Cesaro gave the man a quick hug before turning back to the group.

"Everyone, this is Dean Winchester. He's a friend of mine who I asked to come give us a hand in this."

Sara eyed Dean before clearing her throat.

"Did you consult Tom on this?" she asked

"No, I didn't want to worry him." Cesaro said "I'm aware that in his absence, you're in charge but it was late. He drove here from Kansas overnight to help."

"That's like a sixteen hour drive." Bayley chimed in.

"I drive fast." Dean grinned at the girl while nodding toward his car in the parking lot.

Sara was impressed with the car and would have to make it a point to check it out later.

"So, let's get started, shall we? I need all of the case files and will need to interview each and every one of you…" Dean was cut off by Sara standing up.

"I'm sorry but who died and left you in charge?" she asked "You can't just come in here and start running things."

"Look, Lady, I'm sure you run a great place here, but trust me when I say you're going to want my help." Dean remarked

"Don't 'Lady' me." Sara said, becoming heated "I suggest you turn around, take your nice ass car, and hit the road."

"Sister, you have no idea what you're dealing with." Dean retorted "I'm sorry, but I'm not leaving."

Sara's jaw dropped open in disbelief.

"Sara, please…" Cesaro interfered

"My office. NOW!" Sara demanded, glaring at Dean as she made her way to the back of the building.

Everyone dispersed into their offices and closed the doors, murmuring about the new guy and Sara's reaction. They all wondered what Tom would have to say about this when he got here.

"I'm sorry for my boss. She can be a handful." Cesaro looked at Dean.

Dean just smiled and waved him off. Sara was the least of his worries.

"Where's Sam?" Cesaro asked

"He's checking a few things out; he'll be here in a little while." Dean explained

"Well, there are the files. You can start with AJ and go from there. Maybe by the time you get to Sara she'll be more willing to talk to you." Cesaro sighed as he walked down the hallway to Sara's office.

"Sounds good, thanks man." Dean nodded and took the files off of Ms Fox's desk.

Sara closed the office door before turning to face Cesaro. The two detectives stared at each other, Sara's eyes narrowed as she thought of what exactly to say and Cesaro showing no sign of fear on his stone face.

"Have you lost your fucking mind, Antonio?" Sara began, trying extremely hard not to raise her voice.

"I'm sure I crossed a line..." Cesaro stated

"Oh you did. How dare you go above my or Tom's heads and call in someone else? This is our business, we make those calls. Not you."

"If you'd let me explain…" Cesaro tried again

"Explain what? Who the hell is that guy anyway? You know what it doesn't matter. You're suspended until I can talk to Tom and see what he wants to do about this. On your way out you can take your friend with you."

"Sara…" Cesaro stood, stepping closer to the girl, his face stern.

"Get. Out." Sara opened the door and waved at it with her hand.

"You're making a mistake," Cesaro said "but you're right, I'm going to leave for the rest of the day. I need the time off anyway."

Cesaro walked past the girl and straight out the door, not saying a word to anyone else. Dean watched him and raised his eyebrow, looking down the hallway toward the office. He shook his head and continued thumbing through the pages in the first file. Ms Fox made a note to cancel all of Cesaro's appointments for the rest of the day, knowing by the way he had left that he wouldn't be coming back.

Cesaro got into his car and slammed the door, swearing under his breath.

"If only they knew what was really going on…" he thought to himself "I hope Sam and Dean can get it taken care of before it's too late."

Cesaro gave one last glance at the building before steering off. He needed to find the nearest bar and have about six beers to clear his mind.

Ten minutes later, Cesaro pulled his sports car into the parking lot of McMullan's Irish Pub. It wasn't his usual type of place to drink, but he was fiending for booze.

The place was your typical Irish pub, complete with a rowdy crowd, a long beer list, and several waitresses with brogues so thick you could barely understand them. There were two empty stools at the bar; one was beside a yuppie glued to his cell phone and the other one was beside a man in a kilt who looked like he never saw the sun. No surprise, Cesaro chose the latter.

"What'll ya 'ave?"

"Pint of Guiness." Cesaro stated

"Right away, luv."

Cesaro noted that her accent was more Scottish than Irish, but his mind was soon wandering back to his scene with Sara. He hoped that Tom would be able to talk some sense into her.

"Here, the lady's talkin' to ya." Cesaro was jolted back to the present by the man beside him.

"What?" Cesaro shook his head to clear it. "Sorry, I had a rough morning."

"I said, that'll be six-fifty, love."

"Oh." Cesaro reached for his wallet. "Keep the change." He tossed a ten onto the bar.

Cesaro stared at the pint for maybe half a minute, before raising the glass and drinking half of it off at one gulp. He set the glass down for maybe two beats, then drank the rest of it and motioned for another one.

"Whoa, fella, ya better take it easy. Too many of those will put hair on your head."

"After the day I've had, that is the least of my worries." Cesaro dropped another ten on the bar and drank half the second pint before the money even disappeared.

"It's not my place, but care to talk about it, fella?"

Cesaro looked sideways at the pale-skinned man with the bright red Mohawk hairdo.

"Just sayin'. There's an old Irish proverb, that a problem shared is a problem halved."

"Reminds me of an old Swiss saying." Cesaro retorted "Never spill your guts to someone until you find out their name."

"Fair enough." The other man laughed, and then finished his own pint. "Stephen Farrelly, but me friends call me Sheamus." He extended his hand toward Cesaro.

"Antonio Cesaro." He was more shocked than anything, but quickly remembered his manners and shook hands. "People call me Cesaro, as well as some more unrepeatable things."

Sheamus guffawed loudly. "Then Cesaro ye shall be." He called the waitress over. "I'll have another pint and one for me friend Cesaro here. Put it on my tab, darlin'."

"What ya tryin' to do? Get me drunk then have your wicked way with me?" Just the two pints he'd blown through was making Cesaro's tongue loosen. He immediately mentally hit himself over the head for saying that. He'd probably turned an innocent gesture into something totally awkward.

Sheamus smiled. "What if I am, fella? You're not too bad on the eye, that's for sure. But if that ain't your thing, I'll just shut me mouth."

"No, it's not that… hell, I'm flattered that you think that way. It's just that… fuck, I need another drink."

"There's one right in front o' ye."

Cesaro looked. He'd completely forgotten about that. Saying a prayer to the Guinness Gods, he took a couple big swallows.

"You look like ya needed that."

" _Fuck, how do I not screw this up?"_ "Yeah, thanks for the drink." Cesaro tried to look as unaffected as possible, but his mind was racing every time he replayed Sheamus' last words. " _If I don't say anything, I can't say anything wrong…"_

"Cat got yer tongue, now?"

"Nah, just taking in the scenery." Since Sheamus had already opened the door, Cesaro decide to push it a little further. He gave the other man a quick once-over, stopping briefly at his groin.

"See somethin' ya like?"

"Maybe…"

"It looks to me like ya want an answer to the age old question about what's under me kilt." Sheamus turned sideways and, without even a second's hesitation, grabbed Cesaro's hand and shoved it under his kilt.

Cesaro almost spilled his drink in shock. "What the hell?"

"Go ahead, lad." Sheamus reached for his drink like it was nothing to have someone else's hand where Cesaro's was. "I won't bite."

"I hope not. I haven't had my rabies shot yet." Cesaro began to slide his hand along the smooth skin of Sheamus' leg, encountering nothing as he went higher and higher. There was just skin covering what felt like well-muscled thighs. No hair, and more importantly, no material at all. Cesaro continued to go slowly on the chance that this was a sting.

"Almost there, boyo." Sheamus leaned over and whispered in Cesaro's ear.

An inch or two later and Cesaro encountered something, but it was not clothing. Wondering how much further he could go, he brushed his hand along what could only be Sheamus' penis. A soft exhalation confirmed it.

"Learn something every day, I guess." Cesaro quickly removed his arm.

"Aye, fella." Sheamus leaned in close enough for Cesaro to smell the liquor on his breath. "And if ye want to learn a little more, I got a place around the corner. Ya game?"

Cesaro drained his glass. "Let's go."


	15. Chapter 15

"I really wish you would come home and just relax." Dean said as he drove Tom toward the office after picking him up from the hospital. "Work will still be there tomorrow."

"Babe, I've done nothing but relax these last few days. I need to get back to work. Those guys can't be trusted to run this operation smoothly by themselves for too long; I'm already anxious enough to see what mess I'll have to clean up when I get there." Tom said, adjusting the strap on the sling that was holding his injured arm up.

Ambrose sighed but continued to drive them. They pulled into the parking lot and Tom swore, wrinkling his brow at the vehicle parked in his spot.

"I'm going to buy myself a sign." He mumbled before turning to Dean, "Babe, I'll be home tonight. I promise I won't work past four today, and we'll have a nice dinner and watch a movie, ok?"

"Fine." Dean sighed, giving his boyfriend a longing look.

Tom gave Dean a reassuring kiss before getting out of the car. He walked into the office and straight to Ms Fox's desk.

"Why is there a hunk of old metal parked in my spot?" Tom demanded "I need a tetanus shot just looking at it."

"Easy, Tiger…" a voice came from the reception area and Tom turned. The man raised an eyebrow "Sammy? What the hell happened to your arm? I left you alone for thirty minutes! And what the hell are you wearing?"

"Sammy?" Tom asked "Who the hell are you?"

Before the man could answer, the front door opened and someone walked in. The stranger's eyes went wide as he looked from the newcomer to the detective, then back.

"Woah."

Ms Fox had looked up from her screen and her mouth was dropped into a shocked expression.

"The hell?" Tom asked, giving the man at the door a once over.

"This is trippy." the one in the chair said as he stood, "I'm Dean Winchester, this is my brother, Sam...I think."

"It's me." Sam nodded, not taking his eyes off Tom.

"I'm Tom Hardy, the head detective. Care to explain what's going on here?"

"Well, Tom. I'm not sure how to explain the striking resemblance you have to my brother, but we are here to help you out with the porn case." Dean explained

"Maybe he's a shape shifter." Sam muttered to Dean as he walked closer to his brother.

"A what?" Tom asked

"Nothing." Dean waved it off.

"I don't know who you are, but I think my detectives and I are perfectly capable of handling our own cases."

Dean laughed before turning away from Tom and handing his younger brother a file.

"Read that, tell me what you think." Dean requested

Sam nodded and sat down, opening Sara's file.

"Look, assholes, I'm only going to ask you one time to get the hell out." Tom demanded

Before the Winchesters could reply, Sara appeared in the hallway.

"Tom, I need you in my office. Now."

The girl turned and walked back into her office. Tom gave the brothers one last glare before heading down the hall.

"Dare I even ask just what the hell is going on here?" Tom asked before the door was even fully closed. "I'm guessing my evil twin and flannel-boy might have something to do with it."

"Cesaro called those two jokers in." Sara folded her arms. "Without consulting either of us, I might add."

Tom raised both his eyebrows and exhaled upward, making his bangs flutter. That was his "fuck me sideways" expression.

"Did he say why?" Tom asked

"No." Sara answered "Not that it would matter. He just jeopardized not only our entire operation, but our freedom as well. We could be facing jail time for this."

"Okay, Sara, just calm down for a second." Tom sat down on the edge of Sara's desk, carefully avoiding the lamp with his sling. "Both you and I know how close to the line

we've skirted in the past."

"But we made those decisions. If anyone is gonna fuck up my life, it is gonna be me." She crossed her arms and went to sit down. "Dammit, Beaker, off my chair!"

Beaker looked up and yawned.

Sara tossed the cat to the floor, and then took a seat. "Fuck… fuck… fuck. This is not how I wanted your first day back to go."

Tom snickered. "I've seen worse. You're forgetting about the time you and I took off to Monte Carlo and left AJ in charge."

Sara laughed "Oh yeah… I remember something about a stack of paperwork two feet tall waiting for you."

"Who said paper cuts aren't a job hazard?" Tom replied "Alright babe, let me run an idea by you and you can either go with it or shoot it down."

"If it doesn't involve Cesaro's head on a platter, I will."

"Let me go talk to those two and see exactly a: what Cesaro told them and b: what they think. If Tony's willing to basically put our careers on the line over this, then maybe we should hear everyone out. This case could make us famous…"

"Or put us in jail." Sara grumbled

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Tom shook his head. "Where is our bald-headed Euro anyway?"

"I, uh, suspended him pending talking to you." Sara said, a little afraid of Tom's reaction. "He stormed out and last I heard, Ms. Fox was cancelling his appointments for the rest of the day."

"He's probably at a bar getting drunk." Tom answered "Text him and tell him I want to see him in my office tomorrow morning at eight. I want you there, as well as those two."

Sara nodded. "I still wanna fire his ass."

"If it is warranted, I will give you that pleasure." Tom replied "Although I got dibs on that guy who called me a shape shifter."

"Why?"

"Well, Sara… how often does someone get a chance to tell himself to fuck off?" Tom slid off the desk and walked to the door. "It's almost too bad I'm with Deano."

"Huh? You're not breaking up with him, are you?" Sara had dreads of what might happen if Dean had his heart shattered again.

"No, but people used to always tell me to go fuck myself… probably the only chance I'll ever have."

Sara laughed loudly. Tom always knew just how to get her to calm down. "Dean is picking me up at four, so if there is anything important that I need to deal with, have it on my desk by three. I will be on the phone ordering one of those private parking signs."

"Yes, sir." Sara mock-saluted.

…

Looking at how Sheamus plopped into the passenger seat of his sports car, Cesaro knew that there was no way that they would even make it to wherever Sheamus lived. He was basically bare-assed on the seat; his kilt arranged just to cover his modesty.

"Ah fuck it." Cesaro mumbled under his breath. He drove out of the parking lot and less than two blocks away, turned into the deserted loading dock of a nearby warehouse complex.

"Sheamus, I don't know where you live, but I ain't gonna make it. So take off that fuckin' kilt and let me get at ya." Cesaro growled.

"Lusty little fucker, ain't ya?" Sheamus grinned, but unbuckled the kilt as he was told.

"Throw in the back, and then lean back the seat." Cesaro ordered

Sheamus tossed the garment across the back seat and soon had the seat reclined. Cesaro got his first good look at Sheamus and his own cock throbbed appreciatively.

"Fuck." Cesaro sighed, and then reached across the console and began to unbutton Sheamus' shirt. He soon had that open and was able to openly ogle the Irishman's hard pecs, his washboard-like six pack, milky white thighs, and most importantly what was between them. It was quite long, even soft, but not as thick as Cesaro's own. It would be a good cock for a number of things.

He ran his hands over the pale flesh, nodding at the shivers that went through Sheamus' body with each caress. By the time he ran his hands along the inside of his legs, Sheamus was breathing heavily, and his cock was rock hard.

"Perfect." He fondled the large sac and was rewarded with a thin stream of fluid leaking from the tip of Sheamus' dick.

"Oh, fook." Sheamus sighed.

"Fook is right." Cesaro stated, leaned in, and took Sheamus in a tight lip lock. The taste was incredible, and Cesaro lapped up the liquid faster than the beers he'd chugged minutes earlier.

Sheamus arched his back and popped his hips with every suck. Naked in the passenger seat of an expensive sports car while getting swallowed was not his normal hookup situation, but in many ways it was hotter. His breathing quickly turned into heavy pants, only broken with commands to go faster.

Cesaro was happy to please. Having this hot man figuratively going to pieces right beside him was pushing the situation at the office further and further into the back of his mind. He only hoped that Sheamus would be as happy to reciprocate after his own load was blown.

Sheamus suddenly stopped moaning and gripped Cesaro's shoulder tightly.

"I'm gonna fookin' come." He whispered.

Cesaro almost came himself right then. He pulled back until only the head of Sheamus' cock was still in his mouth. He tongued it while rapidly stroking the rest of him. In seconds, Cesaro tasted the first few drops of cum, and then several thick blasts hit the back of his throat. It was hot, and tasted a little like the Guinness from earlier.

He sucked until Sheamus went soft and pushed Cesaro's head away.

"Fook." He sighed for the umpteenth time.

 _I hope so._

"So, boyo, ya want me to do that to ya, or ya got other plans for me?" Sheamus asked "That was so good, I'm pretty much down for anythin'."

"You'll be my bitch?"

"If that's what floats ya boat." Sheamus tweaked his nipple while openly looking at the rather large bulge between Cesaro's legs. "I'll be yer bitch."

"Then turn over… you've been a bad little boy and I think you need a good spanking." Cesaro took off his jacket and tie.

"Yes, daddy." Sheamus rolled over. "I have been a bad boy. Give me arse what it

deserves."

The two firm globes of flesh that were within distance of Cesaro's hand made his dick spasm even more and that was the head he was currently thinking with. He smacked Sheamus' ass. The other man yelped at the sudden contact.

"Like that, do ya? You are a bad boy."

"Spank me arse hard." Sheamus ground his groin into the seat.

Cesaro spanked him twice, once on both cheeks.

"Fook." He sighed after each. "More, daddy."

"My, you've been even worse that I feared." Cesaro whacked him until both cheeks were bright red.

"I'll be good from now on, daddy." Sheamus whimpered "I promise."

"You better be." Cesaro spanked him one last time. "Now turn over again… if you get precum on my expensive seat covers, you won't be able to sit down for a month."

Sheamus turned, wincing when his tender bottom contacted the seat. Cesaro did not think it was possible to be more turned on that he already was until he saw that the other man was rock hard again.

"Oh man." Cesaro said "I want you so bad right now…"

"Well then, why dontcha get them clothes off and lemme show you what else Irishmen can do with their mouths."

Cesaro ripped his shirt open, and just as quickly, had his dress pants and black briefs in a puddle at his ankles.

Sheamus looked at Cesaro's dick, then back at his own, then over at Cesaro again.

"Fook man, not often I meet someone with a bigger cock than me." Sheamus leaned in and licked Cesaro from base to tip and back down. "Tastes like strawberries."

 _Strawberries? Hmmm, that's a …_

Cesaro's brain short-circuited right there. Sheamus was sucking him off and it felt amazing. It had been a long time since something other than his hand had been on him.

"Oh shit…" He sighed, thrusting upward. Sheamus choked a little when Cesaro's cock went a little further than he liked.

"Sorry." Cesaro sighed "I haven't had…"

Sheamus waved at him in a 'shut up and let me suck' motion. Cesaro leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He wanted to come, actually he needed it, but the glass-is-half-empty part of him wondered if he would ever see Sheamus again; much less getting more of this.

"Dammit." He moaned, his chest rising in deep heaving breaths. "Fuckin' amazing head, but I'm already close."

Sheamus removed his mouth from Cesaro and leaned up. "Ya want me to slow down?"

"Fuck, no." Cesaro said "If I don't shoot soon, I may get cum poisioning."

"That long, eh? Fine with me." Sheamus smirked, and then went back to work.

Less than a marijuana minute later, and Cesaro was coming.

"Oh God, Sheamus… yes, suck that cock… Fuck, I'm there… I'm going… I'm coming… FUCK!"

If Sheamus' load was big, then Cesaro's was massive. Cesaro felt rope after rope launch from the head. What was hotter was Sheamus' ability to swallow every drop of it. To Cesaro, it felt like quarts of fluid left his body.

When he was finished, and Sheamus had drawn off him with a slow suck that had made his over-sensitive dick hurt, he grabbed the pocket square from his jacket and mopped the sweat from his head and chest. "To quote you, 'fook'."

"I'd ask if you liked it, but I don't wanna seem like a dumb shite." Sheamus replied

"Wow."

"Ya weren't so bad yaself." Sheamus looked into the backseat. "Back to the pub for another round?"

Cesaro looked over. "Actually, I'm thinking somethin' else… where did you say you lived, again?"

"Three blocks that way." Sheamus replied "Ya bein' a gentleman and takin' me home?"

"Sorta. Let's say that I can do lots in this car, but fucking your ass isn't one of them." Cesaro pulled up his pants and started the car. "But I assume you have a bed."

Sheamus nodded.

"Good. Your ass is mine." Cesaro briefly heard Sara's text come in as they drove, but she was the last thing on his mind.

 _Fuck off, bitch._


	16. Chapter 16

Tom stared at the other four. He could feel a migraine coming on and idly wondered if maybe this wasn't a bad dream brought on by too much booze and not enough sleep. He kicked the leg of his desk and the pain in his shin told him that this was real time.

"You people really know how to fuck up my life." He sighed. Sara was the only one to show any reaction to this. Tom folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, intently staring from one to another with an expression of combined anger and confusion. Not a place he wanted to be for sure.

"If today was April first, I would say congrats, you got me. But since it is" Tom looked at the corner of his computer screen. "November 7th, I am assuming that this is not a joke."

Sam and Dean nodded.

"Cesaro, go home. You are still suspended and until I figure out exactly what the fuck is going on, I am not overriding Sara's decision on this."

Sara smirked in Cesaro's direction.

"I will meet you in fifteen minutes." Tom addressed his partner. "Start the staff meeting and I will join you as soon as I deal with these two jackalopes."

Sara nodded. Still casting evils at Antonio, she departed to begin the daily business of the agency. After Cesaro had also gone home, Tom motioned for the Winchesters to take chairs.

"I'm sure that by now, you boys would have figured that I would do my homework." Tom pulled two files from a pile on the right side of his desk. "I ran your names through every law enforcement database I could think of… and even a few that I probably shouldn't have. You have had quite a few adventures over the past twelve years, I'd say."

Sam looked at his brother, who looked back. They both shrugged, not quite sure where this was leading.

"My partner does tend to over-react sometimes." Still shaking at head at what he was about to do, Tom removed two sets of forms from his desk. "I sometimes wonder if she's right. Anyway, since you have both seen confidential information, I need you to sign these."

"What are they?" Dean asked

"Non-disclosure agreements." Tom replied "That will keep the local police out of your hair."

Sam signed immediately. Dean opened his mouth to say something.

"I make one phone call, mister Winchester, and you will spend the foreseeable future in a ten by ten cell. I can guarantee it."

Dean shrugged and reached for a pen.

"And no fake names, either." Tom stated

Mild surprise crossed the elder Winchester's face.

"Like I said, I do my homework."

Once both men had signed where required by law, Tom leaned back in his chair. "Now the ground rules: we meet every morning in this office at eight. No excuses, nothing. You document everything… and I mean everything. I want to know who you talk to, where you talk to them, and most importantly, what they say. Wear a wire if you need to: the office staff will transcribe it if needed. You say nothing to anyone outside the current staff. Are we agreed?"

"What if we say 'no'?" Dean asked

"Do you want me to answer that? Really?" Tom leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk. The look he gave was enough. To Dean, it was like talking to his father. Sam was also impressed with Tom's handling of the situation, but he couldn't stop staring at his neo-reflection.

"I didn't think so." Tom continued "That is all until tomorrow, gentlemen."

Sam and Dean left the office. Tom didn't even show them to the door. He went directly to the office of his partner, only stopping to grab an envelope from his jacket.

"…flannel. I'm sure Tom can explain better, right?" Sara immediately put her partner on the spot.

"Don't look at me. I just work here." Tom dropped on a chair in the corner.

"Tommy…" Sara growled

"Sara, I know as much about that as you do." Tom answered "Give me a day or two, okay? Until then, business as usual folks."

"Alright, then." Sara huffed "Meeting fucking adjourned."

Tom raised his eyebrow at the language, but said nothing aloud. The staff filed out, back

to their individual offices, and Tom immediately locked to door to Sara's office.

"When did we lose control, Tommy?" Sara flopped onto her couch and closed her eyes.

"I don't know if we ever had it." Tom answered, reaching down to scratch Beaker's head. "Maybe we should let Beaker run the joint and you and I take off to some island somewhere in the South Pacific."

"If I thought you were serious, I'd say yes in a heartbeat." Sara replied

"Who said I wasn't?" Tom answered with a chuckle.

"Tommy…" Sara groaned

"Just trying to help." Tom responded "Anyway…" He went on to rehash the rules he had set with the brothers. It didn't make Sara feel a whole lot better, but at least it put more of the burden on her partner if something went wrong.

"I still don't like it." Sara stated

"Neither do I, but Tony's put us in a tight spot. Speaking of, do you really think we should let him go?"

"I do." Sara said simply. "He broke every one of the few rules we have around here. We need to let people know that we are still in charge."

"I agree, but let's wait until after this Likansuk mess is done with. I don't want to lose all the man hours he's put in. Maybe he's right to call in those guys. I was getting nowhere with my case." Tom slouched "Although replacing him might not be too difficult."

"What? You run into someone else you went to school with?" Sara retorted

"Close. His son." Tom replied "I got a resume from Ted DiBiase, Junior. Seems he was just downsized by some big New York bank."

"Wha'd you tell him?"

"Told him to stop by the office if he was in the area and we'll talk." Tom read Sara's expression. "Don't worry, babe. He's not a bible-thumper like his dad."

"I hope not." Sara had met the elder DiBiase once before. "One AJ is enough."

"Hey. Come on. He's doing better." Tom joked

"Once you had me tell him to knock off the preaching." Sara grumbled "He didn't speak to me for weeks."

"He was probably scared you'd fire him." Tom stood. "Anyway, I gotta drop off the info on our new "janitorial staff" to Irwin. Dude is a real pissass when it comes to that sorta thing. And this is for you. I was planning to give it to you last week, but then that whole me getting shot thing really screwed up my schedule." He flicked an envelope at her.

Sara opened it. "Tom? A birthday card? You didn't have to."

"At least it's not an 'I choo-choo-choose you' one." Tom smirked

"You give me one of those and I'll put your head on a platter just on principle." Sara opened the card and a folded piece of paper fell onto her lap. She looked at it and her facial expression immediately changed to shock.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"If you think it's a $2000 credit to West Coast Choppers dot com, the yes it is what you think it is." Tom replied calmly.

"Tommy…" Sara exhaled slowly, staring down at the certificate "You didn't have to do that."

"Of course I did." Tom shrugged "You deserve it. I know you've had your eye on a few things and well it's kinda my job to take care of you."

Sara rolled her eyes but rolled off the couch to give him a hug. Tom gave her a quick, tight squeeze before he got back into business mode.

"Alright, we gotta get some work done." Tom said

Sara nodded and went to her desk, powering on her computer. While she waited for it to boot up, Tom rambled on about the day's tasks and instructions. Sara nodded along as she signed into her computer, but was stopped when her phone buzzed with a text. She picked it up and Tom noticed a small smile crossed her lips. He raised an eyebrow but continued to talk. A few minutes later Tom raised his eyebrow, realizing Sara had stopped listening to him entirely and was intently tapping away at her phone's keypad.

"Something important?" Tom questioned

"Huh?" Sara looked up. "No."

"Uh-huh" Tom tried to peer over the desk to look at the screen but Sara put the phone in her pocket and turned her attention back to her computer.

"So...we need to get the report from Renee and AJ about their interview with Neville. We need to get this Hardy case wrapped up so we can focus on the bigger issue."

"You can't hide things from me, you know that." Tom said

"I'm not!" Sara said, not turning her attention away from the document on the screen "I just don't want to talk about it right now."

"Is it a new man?" Tom pushed

"Tommy…" Sara looked up at him

"What?" Tom asked innocently

"Just leave it alone. We'll talk later, when we have less madness to deal with. Anymore and you may explode."

"Hmm…" Tom narrowed his eyes but continued discussing with his partner about business. He'd get to the bottom of Sara's secrets later.

"Alright, I'm going to go talk to Renee. You take AJ, see where we are with Hardy. Meet back after lunch to discuss?" Sara ignored Tom's interest in her personal life.

"Sounds like a plan, Babe." Tom turned and left the room, heading to AJ's office.

Sara sighed before reaching for her phone again.

Sara: " _Hey...sorry, busy day at work. Can I call you on my lunch break?"_

 _Finn: "Sure. I can't wait."_

Sara smiled before turning back to her computer and typing up a header on her document. She then paged for Renee to come to her office, hoping that work would distract her until lunch.

…

"I think we might have met our match." Dean mumbled as the two brothers headed for their Impala. "That guy knew everything…"

He stopped talking when he realized that his brother wasn't paying attention to a word he was saying.

"Sam… Sam… SAM!" Dean punched him on the bicep. "You listenin'?"

"Yeah, I'm listenin'." Sam answered half-assed. He hadn't, actually. His mind was going in an entirely weird direction. Most of it was trying to figure out how, other than the

shapeshfiter suggestion, there could be someone else who looked that much like him.

"Sammy, I know that look. You used to zone out like that when we were lookin' for Dad. I can't have you flake out on me." Dean took Sam's shoulders and shook him gently. "Tell big brother what the problem is before I have to beat it out of you."

"No problem… I'm just a little weirded out by this whole thing, I guess." Sam shrugged

"Why? After everything we've seen… including shapeshifters!"

"I dunno. Something's just different this time."

"Don't sweat it. Treat this like any other job and nothing more. If anything, it will get weirder."

How right Dean was. Before they even got into their car, if did get weirder. A whole lot weirder.

"Hardy, what the fuck!"

Both Sam and Dean jerked their heads around.

"You lying son of a bitch! It isn't bad enough to take Dean from me, but now you're fucking around on him with this." He waved his arms around frantically.

"I don't know who you are, but you obviously don't know what you're talking about." Sam answered calmly.

"The fuck I don't." Always one to let actions speak first, Seth swung at Sam. Sam sidestepped and Seth's fist bounced off the metal partition between the driver's and passenger's side windows. He shouted in pain upon contact. "Motherfucker!"

Tom overheard the shout from his office. He peered out his window and the throbbing behind his eyes got ten times worse.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." He shouted, bolting from his office and out the front door, to the shock of Ms. Fox and the two individuals waiting in reception.

Seth and Sam were throwing fists and Dean looked like he was trying to protect his brother from Seth's vicious punches. Tom remembered all too well how much they could hurt. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he inhaled deeply.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"

A minute later, he wished he hadn't asked.


	17. Chapter 17

**_A/N: Sorry this has taken forever to update! Much to RRatedAuthors displeasure, my lack of motivation and access to a laptop have prevented anything new. However we are back and we are ready to get this going again! Please leave a review and let us know what you think. Happy New Year!_**

Tom watched Sam and Seth scuffle in the parking lot. Part of him wanted to punch both of them in their faces for making his day go straight into the shitter. Another part of him wanted to do something even worse.

"Fuck." Tom growled, feeling the adrenaline start to course through his system. His entire body started to shake uncontrollably. Fortunately, Sara had also heard the noise and come in investigate.

"What the hell? Seth? Are you fucking kidding me?" She screamed and actually walked over and pulled Seth away from Sam. She looked from Seth to the Winchesters and back again, her eyes shooting daggers at all three.

"Sara, I thought…"

"For Shit sake Rollins, that's your problem… you don't think." Sara slapped him across the face. "If I didn't have fifty million more important things to worry about, I'd have the police here in five minutes… are you understanding me?"

Seth hung his head, a little ashamed. "Yes ma'am."

"Good… now get the fuck off my parking lot and I never want to see your ugly-ass face around here again." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tom; still shaking with a look in his eyes she had only seen in him once before.

"You two, get to work." She pointed to the slightly disheveled Winchester brothers. "I'm not paying you to be lawn ornaments."

She didn't wait for a reply. Her concern was her partner. She knew the signs of a panic attack, having been through many of her own. Tom had always been there to calm her down and now it was her turn.

"Tommy… let's get you inside."

"Sara?" Tom panted, his hands clenched into tight fists. "Get me out of here."

"Sure thing, Tommy." Sara replied "Let's go inside and…"

"Sara, please… call Dean. I have to get out of here. Now."

She nodded, already reaching for her phone. "You got it."

Sara quickly pulled her phone from the back picket of her jeans, scrolling her contact list and hit the call button next to Dean's name. She figured he'd probably be asleep, he usually was this time of day, and hoped he had the ringer turned on.

"Hello?" Dean's gruff, tired voice came from the other line after the fourth ring.

"You need to get to the office, immediately" Sara said, keeping her eyes on Tommy

"What's wrong?" Dean asked with worry

"Tommy is on the verge of a panic attack and he wants you to come take him home. I cant leave the office right now and he's in no state to drive"

"What happened?" Dean asked, scuffling heard in the background and Sara assumed he was trying to get dressed while talking

"Its a long story...Seth showed up" Sara placed a hand on Tommy's arm when he tensed up at the mention of Seth

"Fucking he'll.." Dean swore under his breath "I'm on my way, I'll get there as soon as I can"

The two ended the conversation and Sara continued comforting Tommy until Dean arrived.

…

Dean gripped the steering wheel of his 1967 Impala with one hand, while looking from tbe road to his brother who sat in the passenger seat looking in the mirror at the fresh bruises and abrasains on his face.

"You ok, Sam?" Dean asked

"No I'm not okay, Dean" Sam said, hissing as he pinched the bridge of his broken nose, "What the fuck is going on?"

"I dont know...but we'll get to the bottom of it." Dean said, turning into the parking lot of a run down motel

The two climbed out of the car, grabbed their bags and checked in. Once in their room and seated across from each other at the small table, Dean handed Sam one of the files from the agency.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Dean asked as Sam skimmed the reports inside the folder

"All signs point to Leviathans" Sam sighed

"Dick Fuckin Roman…" Dean muttered, popping open a beer and taking a swig

Dick Roman was a monster. Someone Sam and Dean had an encounter with a few years ago, which they thought they had handled.

"So what do we do?" Sam asked, putting his cold beer bottle against the bruises on his cheek

"We find the son of a bitch and gank him. Once and for all"

"How do you suppose we do that?"

"Well, we need to get into this Liknsuk place and see what business the leader of the goo-people has with a porn company." Dean explained, finishing off his beer and reaching for another

Sam nodded

"Janitors or electricians?" The younger Winchester asked, referring to the fake identities the brothers would use on cases

"Neither" Dean grinned "We're gonna be actors"

"Jesus Christ…" Sam muttered, opening his beer and takinf several long sips

Tom was totally silent on the ride home. Even after arriving at his condo, he still hadn't spoken a single word. Like Sara, Dean had seen this before, and he was honestly surprised that it hadn't happened sooner.

As he followed Tom into their home, Dean started to wonder if maybe this was his entire fault. There were many other detective agencies in Vegas he could have called when he suspected that Seth was cheating on him instead of involving his friends. The result would've been the same and he could've played the 'we broke up and I need a place to crash for the night' card. No one would've been any wiser.

He followed the trail of Tom's shoes, jacket, and keys into their bedroom where he found his boyfriend staring at himself in the mirror. Dean walked behind him and leaned his chin against his good shoulder.

"Tommy, Sara told me what happened… is there anything I can do?"

Tom exhaled. "She shouldn't have done that. I have everything under control."

"But she did." Dean stated "And we're home. Tell me what you need me to do."

Still looking deep into his reflection, Tom answered. His reply, which was all of two words, shocked the hell out of Dean.

"Fuck me."

"I cant believe I let you talk me into this, Dean" a disgruntled Sam hissed as the brothers walked into the main lobby of Liknsuk

"Come on, Sammy...brighten up. Think of the babes we'll meet" Dean said cheerfully

"Can I help you?" A blonde woman with a thick accent sitting at the front desk asked, looking the two men up and down.

"Yeah...uh..Lana" Dean winked as he looked down at the woman's name tag and back up at her "We're here to apply for a job"

Lana sighed, the eldest Winchester's cheesy smile having no effect on her. She reached into one of the drawers of the filing cabinet next to her desk and pulled out a couple of forms.

"Fill these out" she said, unenthused

"Your accent is lovely, Russian?" Sam inquired, trying to play the part

"Just fill out the forms" Lana snapped before returning to the book she was reading before the brothers interrupted her

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance before sitting down and filling out the forms. While doing so, they each took turns looking around the front of the building. Nothing seemed out of place so far.

"What if we dont get hired on today?" Sam asked

Dean shrugged

When they were finished, Dean took the stack of papers back to the desk. Lana took them, barely skimming over them before tossing them onto her desk.

"Would it be possible to get an interview today?" Dean asked

"Mr Lawson is a very busy man" Lana said, not even looking up from her book "He'll call you when he calls you"

Dean sighed and went to sit back down next to Sam. After talking quietly back and forth Sam thought he'd give it a shot.

"Look, I know Mr..." Sam paused to remember the name "...Lawson is busy, but if we could just speak to him for 5 minutes"

Lana sighed with frustration and was about to open her mouth to speak when a door opened and a tall man walked out.

"Lana, I need you to run an errand for me" the man said, handing the receptionist a piece of paper before noticing Sam "Hello, what can I do for you?"

Sam shook the man's extended hand

"My brother and I were hoping we could speak to Mr Lawson about getting a job"

"Ah.." the man smiled and looked over at Dean "James Lawson, snd you are?"

"Sam, and this is my brother, Dean"

"Well Sam, Dean..why dont you boys come into my office and we'll talk"

The two nodded and followed James through the doors. Sam rolled his eyes when Dean over entusiastically wanted a fist bump. They weren't in just yet.

"Fuck you? Tommy, are you sure?"

Tom continued to stare at his reflection. "I just want… no, need to forget about the world for a while."

Dean shrugged. "I know that feeling, man. But after what you've told me… is this the…"

"Dean, just take me, okay? We're supposed to be a couple. We'll deal with all the socio-economic ratifications later." Tom turned around and before Dean could even ask what he was talking about, Tom had their lips mashed together.

The kisses they had shared up until then had been soft, tender, and almost feminine. This was raw; like two mastodons fighting for dominance. Dean hadn't been kissed with such force in a long time and was getting hard almost immediately. He was a little embarrassed until he felt Tom press against him and realized that he was just as turned on.

 _If that's how he wants it, here goes…_

So that he wouldn't be eaten alive by his boyfriend, Dean quickly spun him around and with a heavy push, Tom was flat on his bed with Dean on top of him seconds later. Their kissing got more frantic and both Dean and Tom were soon removing each other's clothes. Their t-shirts were soon ripped from their bodies and the kissing got even more intense, especially from Dean. Something about Tom's semi-muscular physique was making his libido crazy. He kissed down the center of Tom's almost hairless chest; with each kiss, Tom let out a sigh that got louder the further down Dean went.

Remembering what happened the last time he tried, Dean slowly opened Tom's belt. He noticed a couple of faded white spots near the buckle and got even harder at the memory of how they got there.

He rubbed the bulge in Tom's jeans, getting more moans from his boyfriend before popping the buttons. In seconds, they were on the floor and Dean attacked the front of the boxers Tom wore. They were soon discarded and for the first time, Dean saw Tom's cock.

"Fuck, man…" Dean whistled

"Yes, now… I wanna forget the whole damn world." Tom groaned "Bedside table if you need protection."

Dean thought he was clean, but he didn't want to take any chances. Who knew where Seth's penis had been? He grabbed a condom and some lube and quickly shed his own pants. Circulation was becoming an issue.

"Tommy, I know you want this, but let me know if I'm hurting you." Dean quickly rolled the condom down his dick and applied the lube to it as well as his fingers.

"Deano, I was just shot. I don't think there's anything that would hurt more." Tom said "Now fuck me like it's our last night on earth."

Even though his dick had other ideas, Dean inserted a finger into Tom to prep him. Once he was loosened, Dean added a second finger, and then even a third. With the only sound being softly mumbled dirty talk from Tom, Dean lifted both Tom's legs onto his shoulders and slid inside his warm body. It felt one hundred times better than when he'd been with Seth and Dean let out his own moan of pleasure before starting to pump in and out of him. Tom's body was so tight, yet so willing to take him that Dean had to start reciting the twelve times table so he wouldn't end the night before it had begun.

Tom groaned with each thrust and Dean continued to push deeper inside until he felt the head hit Tom's prostate.

"Oh fuck!" Tom shouted, lifting his upper body right off the bed. "Again!"

Dean pulled back, and then thrust back in a bit harder.

"Son of a bitch, Deano… give it to me. Make that fuckin' cock of yours explode." Tom grabbed the headboard tightly with both hands.

Any hesitation about hurting Tom was gone in that instant. Dean became a man possessed, fucking Tom in a way that he'd never done before. Holding onto the headboard for dear life, Tom allowed Dean's animal lust to take over. He didn't even care when his head hit the frame hard enough to being stars to his eyes.

"Jack me…" Tom panted "I want us to come at the same time."

Dean looked down and saw just how turned on Tom was. It looked like his dick might literally explode any moment. He grabbed his boyfriend and stroked him in exact time with his own powerful strokes.

"Oh fuck…" Dean shouted. This was one hundred times better than all the other times he and Tom had messed around and one thousand times better than all his previous boyfriends combined. "I wanna come with you too. Just tell me when."

"Almost fucking there." Tom arched his back into Dean's strokes. "Gonna blow, Dean… gonna…" The rest of Tom's words devolved into a bunch of grunts and shouts.

Dean looked down and watched Tom shoot ropes of cum all over his chest and stomach. That was enough to make Dean come so hard he was almost afraid that he'd rip the rubber or have the end of his dick fly off. He carefully pulled out and ran to the bathroom, where he flushed the used rubber and grabbed a towel to clean off his lover's body. When he came out, Tom hadn't moved a muscle.

"You okay, Tommy?" Dean crawled onto the bed and lovingly removed the sticky residue from Tom's chest.

"That was amazing. I didn't know you had it in you." Tom finally opened his eyes and looked at Dean. "Thank-you."

"You're welcome." Dean replied, lying down and pulling the sheets over top of their bodies. He held Tom, not wanting to ruin the moment with idle talk. Tom's phone, however, had other ideas.

After the fourth ring, Dean looked at Tom. "You gonna answer that? It might be important."

Tom looked over at his jeans, then back at Dean. "Not nearly as important as you." He stated. "Whatever it is, it can wait."


	18. Chapter 18

Dean was relaxing in his "trailer", which was Likansuk slang for the small room next to the soundstage where he was about to make his big debut. He was busy going over the notes from his first day at the company and still trying to figure out where everything fit together. He and Sam had agreed to not be seen together any more than they had to just in case people started to get suspicious. Dean had also noticed that a lot of the actors tended not to socialize with each other. Makes sense, he thought, why would you want to talk to someone you're about to or just had sex with.

His quiet was suddenly interrupted by a flushed Sam.

"Sammy, I thought we agreed…"

"Shut up, Dean. Have you seen this?" Sam waved a small wad of paper in his brother's face.

"Depends on what it is." Dean replied calmly.

"It's the damn script!" Sam flung it at Dean, who only caught a look at the title.

"There are scripts?" Dean asked

"Yeah… you might want to read yours." Sam answered, his tone going from pissed-off to unbelievable.

"What's there to read… start scene, have sex, end scene." Dean sneered "I wonder what hot chick I've got."

Sam rolled his eyes and lightly pinched the bridge of his nose. "There's no hot chick."

Dean's eyes bugged out. "What do you mean there's no hot chick?"

"I mean there's no chick at all."

Dean grabbed Sam's script and quickly read through it. His body language quickly went from relaxed to panic. "What the hell…"

"That's what I said." Sam replied

"I mean, we're brothers." Dean stated

"Apparently that's why we got the job." Sam answered "We're fucking each other."

"To be more accurate Sammy, I'm fucking you." Dean smiled, having quickly read over things.

"Dean!"

"Relax." Dean answered "I'm sure it's a mistake."

"A mistake? The fucking film is called Brotherly Love! What did you think? We were going to be filming in Philadelphia!" Sam was ranting loudly. Dean just waited for little brother to finish.

"Gentlemen, you're needed in wardrobe." A young male intern interrupted them.

"Wardrobe too?" Dean whispered

Sam just rolled his eyes. Today was going to be a pain in the ass and quite literally, if things were going the way they seemed to be.

After having makeup applied to his face, Dean was lead into another room in the building. A bed was placed in the center of the room and a blue comforter was draped across it. Sam was already there, bare chested and looking like he was going to faint any second.

"Can you believe they made me wear this?" Sam said as he tugged at the waistband of his two sizes too tight sweatpants

"Dude, I'm wearing makeup!" Dean hissed at him "I feel like a painted whore!"

"Alright, positions everyone! Let's get this done quickly" the director shouted as he entered the room with James Lawson trailing in behind him

"We aren't seriously doing this are we?" Sam questioned

Dean just nodded to the owner of the company.

"The makeup lady says he likes to watch the auditions and if he likes you he takes you out for a drink after."

"So?" Sam asked

"So, we get on his good side. We at least need to see if he's one of _them_ "

Sam sighed.

"Trust me, I'm not happy with this either but this is our chance to get rid of Dick Roman once and for all" Dean patted his brother on the shoulder and grinned "Close your eyes and pretend it's Gabriel"

Sam shot his older brother a glare as the director yelled "Action!". Dean immediately placed a hand behind his brother's head and pulled him down, taking him into a rough kiss, pushing his tongue through his tight lips.

"C'mon Sammy" Dean grunted, grinding his hips into Sam's

Sam finally relented and began to tug Dean's shirt over his head. He admitted, only to himself, that he wasn't completely against this whole thing. It had been awhile since he had thought about Dean in this way, years to be exact, but he had those thoughts none the less. He just had to relax and let it happen.

"Fuck!" Dean grunted, his teeth sinking into Sam's shoulder "Oh fuck"

Sam closed his eyes, an attempt to not show any discontentt as Dean pulled out of his ass, dick slick with cum. The scene had taken forty five minutes but thankfully it seemed to have flown by, at least for Sam. Dean's head rested in the middle of Sam's back as he tried to catch his breath.

"Cut!" The director yelled before looking over at James, waiting for his opinion

"That was good, boys, take a thirty minute break and we'll do it one more time"

Sam's eyes went wide and Dean nearly choked on the air he had breathed in.

Eight a.m. the following morning and Sara was pissed off. Not only sitting across from her desk were two people that she wanted nothing to do with, but her partner was still AWOL. Neither of the Winchesters seemed happy to be there either, but that meant less than nothing to her at that particular moment.

"Okay, you two: talk. I have very little confidence that this arrangement is going to do anything, but out of respect for my partner, I am going along with this." Sara put her shitkickers up on her desk and blasted evils at both of them.

If it wasn't for stupid Seth, she wouldn't even have to be doing this. Thanks to him triggering one the worst panic attacks she'd seen (her own not included), she was now in charge of the entire office until Tom returned. She crossed her fingers that would be very soon. She was rather quickly learning how important Tommy was to the day-to-day operations of the office. There were so many things that he did that she didn't even know about.

"Look" Sam began, looking from Sara to the rest of the Calahardy employees "I understand your skepticism but Dean and I are confident that we can have this case solved in a matter of a few days."

"It's kinda what we do, Sweetheart" Dean flashed her a grin but cowered back when he was met with glaring eyes.

"What exactly is it that you do?" Bayley asked innocently

Sara raised her eyebrows, interested in the answer as much as the rest of the group. Sam and Dean exchanged a look, not going unnoticed by Sara.

"We specialize in these sort of companies and the underground society they work with." Sam covered decently as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat "We will have Likansuk shut down and buried in no time"

"You have three days." Sara crossed her arms and looked at Bayley without giving the brothers a chance to comment on the offer "Where are we on your licensing?"

"I should have the results of the test by this afternoon" Bayley beamed "Then all I need is to get my badge"

Sara resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the overly enthusiastic rookie and moved on After the meeting wrapped, and not a minute too soon for her taste, Sara stared at her phone. She needed a distraction and she hoped that Finn would be just that. Unfortunately, AJ and Renee had other plans.

"Got a minute, boss?" AJ stuck his head through her still-open door.

That was another thing she hated: being called boss.

"Maybe. What is it?" She put her phone back into her pocket.

"It's about the Hardy case."

"Again?" I thought you closed it."

"We did." Renee replied "Matt is coming in to settle the account later today."

"So? What's this got to do with me?"

"Since Tom's not here, we need your authorization to discuss payment methods if he can't pay the whole bill all at once. Judging by his reaction to when I told him the final balance, I suspect he doesn't have it."

"What reaction was that?"

"He dropped the phone and said something about how Jeff was going to bankrupt him." AJ replied

Sara smirked… she'd heard her uncle say that thing so many times about his kids it was old news.

"Bring me the bill." She sighed "I'll see what I can come up with."

…

"Your phone is ringing again." Dean said

"Don't care." Tom answered "I really don't."

"I know." Dean put his arm around Tom's shoulders. "But it's probably someone concerned about you… like Sara." He'd peeked at the display already. "Let me take care of this for you. After all, this whole shitstorm is my fault." Dean answered the cellular. "Hello… Tom Hardy's bedroom… Dean speaking."

Tom could only hear half the conversation, but just thinking about work was giving him the shakes.

"Let me ask him." Dean looked over. "Tommy…"

"Don't care." Tom repeated

"Tommy…" Dean said in a warning tone, and then turned back to the phone. "Let me call you back in five, Sara."

Dean set the phone aside. "Tommy, you've had a lot of stuff happen to you in the past few weeks."

"Well, duh." Tom turned away and covered his head with a pillow.

"Come on. Sara needs to talk to you. If you don't want to go back to the office right away, she'll understand. But there are a lot of people who are relying on you right now, panic attacks or no panic attacks. What is it you always tell people? It's not the size of the pile that's important, but how you dig yourself out?"

"Sure… use my own words against me." Tom sulked

"It was either that or tickle you into submission with your own stuffed animal." Dean replied "Just call her… for me… please?" He handed the phone over. Tom reached for it, but his hands were still shaking badly.

"On second thought, I'll call her and put her on speaker." Dean said

"Hey, you." Obviously Sara was expecting the call.

"Hey, me." Tom replied

"Sorry to bother you, but something's come up that I don't know how to handle."

Tom sighed, starting to shake all over. Dean held him close, massaging the back of his neck for comfort.

"What is it?" Dean asked

Briefly Sara explained the situation. As she talked, Tom's shakes seemed to quiet. Seeing that his lover wasn't going to crash, Dean excused himself to use the bathroom. By the time he returned, the call was finished and Tom was looking a lot better than before.

"I told ya so." Dean jumped back on the bed. "Now let's make something else shake."

…

"Mr. Styles will see you now." Alicia said to Matt.

"Thank-you."

Matt entered AJ's office. AJ, and Sara were both waiting for him.

"Mr. Hardy… we're so glad you could make it in so quickly to settle this." AJ said. The Hardy file was on the desk in front of him and he made a show out of opening it and leafing through a few of the pages. "How are things?"

Matt sighed. "Could be better. Jeff is still denying that he's even using, but why else would he be going into those places?"

"Probably not to use the Wi-Fi." Sara added

Matt nodded.

"I want to get him some help, but I don't know what to do."

AJ slid the file across the desk. "We've taken the liberty of making a copy of the case file for you. As well, there is a list of support agencies as well as a few good lawyers on the front page. They are better equipped to handle the next phase of this."

Matt seemed shocked.

"Now, the only matter before us is payment." AJ handed a single piece of paper to Matt. "As you can see, everything has been itemized and accounted for, including the deposit which has already been credited toward the balance. As you can see, the balance is now $2,397.45."

"I don't have that kind of money…" Matt gulped nervously.

"I figured, based on your reaction during our phone call yesterday." AJ stated "That's why Sara is here."

"Mr. Hardy. I can appreciate that this is a tough time for you, but Calahardy does expect payment in full when services are rendered." Sara tried to remember what she'd overheard Tom say once or twice to clients. Another thing she was glad her partner handled.

"I know, but are there…"

"Let me finish, Mr. Hardy. I have consulted with Mr. Styles and the other agents involved as well as my partner and we have come to the conclusion that it is more important to get your brother the immediate help he needs. Now I have no idea how much lawyers, and medical, and all the other things you'll need to do will cost, but we're going to try to help you. Can you pay $200 a month for 12 months?"

Matt sat up in shock. He was not expecting this.

"I think so." He said

"My partner and I are okay with accepting twelve post-dated cheques for the first of each month, starting next month. As long as they clear, we will have no issue… are we good on this?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"AJ will give you the forms to sign. The cheques need to be in our hands by the close of business today." Sara stated

"I have my chequebook with me." Matt replied

"Then we consider the matter closed." Sara sounded so formal, she didn't even recognize her own voice. "We do hope things work out for you, and if there is anything else Calahardy can do for you, please let us know."

"I will… and thank-you again."

Once Sara was back in her office she was finally able to pull out her phone and dial the number she had been waiting to all all day.

"Hello?" Finn's voice came from the other line

"Hey" Sara said, cursing herself for being nervous

"Hey you" Finn sounded delighted to hear from her

"I'm still at work but I was wondering if you wanted to come over later?" Sara asked "It's been a long day and I could honestly use the company"

"I'd love to. I don't get off until ten thirty, but I'll come straight over after work"

"Sounds good"

"See you soon, love"


	19. Chapter 19

Tom came home late, his arms full of groceries, to an interesting sight. Well, interesting is probably not the correct word to describe it. He came home to Dean sitting in front of his computer, his arms folded, and an irritated expression on his face.

"What?" Tom asked "Did I forget to kiss you goodbye this morning?"

"Where were you all day?" Dean asked gruffly

"At the office." Tom replied "Then getting food. In case you hadn't noticed, our fridge is almost empty."

"You sure?"

"Where did you think I was?" Tom retorted "Making porn?"

Dean motioned to the computer screen. Tom set the groceries on the kitchen counter, and then leaned over Dean.

"At least I know what you've been doing all day." He joked, and then turned serious. "What the fuck…?"

"That's what I said."

"No seriously… what the everloving fuck!" Tom watched maybe another minute before turning away. "Those are the two jokers Cesaro brought in to supposedly work a case."

"So that isn't you?" Dean didn't seem too convinced.

"Fuck no." Tom almost shouted. "When Sara said she wasn't paying them to be lawn ornaments, I didn't think this is what she was paying them for!"

Tom immediately texted Sara with the link and a "WTF?"

Less than a minute Sara texted back with a "Beats the fuck outta me…" and the confused face emoji.

"Me too." Tom replied "We talk b4 they show up tomorrow?"

"Sure… assuming they're not too sore." Sara responded

 _Not too sore?_ Tom mouthed "Sara, are you watching it?"

"Uh, no." Sara answered… a little too quickly.

"Sara…?"

"So what if I am?" She snapped

Tom replied with the winky-face, and then. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

Sara leaned back in her chair, thankful that Tom was coming back. For all her skills, she really didn't want another day of this. She resumed her viewing and found herself laughing at Sam and Dean's scenes. _Add porn starts to lawn ornaments on the list of things we're not paying them to be._

…

To Tom's surprise, Sara was already at the office when he arrived. The last time this happened was, well, never. He went directly to Sara's office, turned down the outlaw country she was blasting, and sat down in one of the visitor's chairs.

"Well?" Tom said after a minute of awkward silence.

"Well what?"

"Y'know… them?" Tom waved at the air.

"Oh yeah." Sara leaned back. "Them."

"I'm still trying to figure out how Brotherly Love is going to help us solve this case." Tom leaned back. "Unless you know something I don't."

Sara shrugged.

"I'll find a polite way to ask when they come in later. Maybe ask them if this is the best way to get to the bottom of things." He winked at Sara, who groaned, then facepalmed, and finally threw the closest thing she could find at him. That happened to be a fresh loaf of French bread she had purchased for her lunch. It missed by a good foot, but Tom still caught in out of the air before it landed on the floor. The five-second rule did not apply in the Vegas heat.

He stood and set it back down in front of his partner.

"I guess I'd better baguetting out of here before the rest of the bakery gets thrown at me." Tom quickly left her office before the loaf made a second flight.

Tom went back into his office and immediately slapped his forehead. His desk was covered with stack after stack of paperwork. He hadn't been away long, but it was that time of year for the employees to submit their quarterly expense reports and that covered half his desk. At the top, was a thin envelope from the Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board.

"It's about time." Tom buzzed reception.

"Yes, Mr. Hardy?" Ms. Fox answered with her usual enthusiasm.

"Could you please send Bayley to my office?" He requested

"I'll send her in when she returns. She's at lunch with Renee at the moment." Alicia replied

"Thank-you, Ms. Fox." Tom replied "Could you discreetly order the usual and have it delivered to Bayley's office immediately."

"She passed?" Ms. Fox sounded surprised

"Perfect score." Tom replied "But please don't spoil the surprise."

Bayley returned from lunch a little "happy". This was probably the biggest thing Sara didn't like about her… she was always in a good mood. Sara hated all perpetually cheerful people, with no exceptions.

"Mr. Hardy would like to see you in his office… IMMEDIATELY!"

Bayley gulped. Her good mood soured in a heartbeat.

Tom's door was locked and she knocked softly.

"Enter." Tom said

"You wanted to see me? "Bayley stuck her head inside.

Tom looked up from the stack he was currently reading through. "Come in and shut the door, please." He sounded cold, formal. Bayley was immediately nervous. "Take a seat."

Bayley sat down, now more nervous than the day she interviewed for the job.

"I hate to ruin the rest of your day, but this must be dealt with immediately." Tom waved the envelope with the letter from the Licensing Board at her. "I should've seen this coming and I take partial responsibility for this. I haven't been around as much as I should have and that's my fault." He tossed the envelope across the desk at her. "You remember what I said months ago."

Bayley tore open the envelope, dread written across her face. She quickly read the letter and the dread turned to confusion.

"Uh, sir… I don't understand." She looked up and Tom was now all smiles.

"Congratulations, Ms. Martinez… you're the first employee to score 100 on their licensing exam." Tom didn't want to mention that she was actually the first of anyone other than Tom to do that. Heaven forbid if Sara should find out. (She only scored 98.) "Take the rest of the day off if you want, but tomorrow you and I will be going down to the Board office to finish paperwork and get your shield."

A tear trickled down Bayley's face. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been this happy.

Tom spent the rest of the afternoon going over the expense reports and shaking his head at some of the things his employees were trying to claim, especially Sara's liquor store tab. He stuck hers in his top drawer. After the French mistake earlier in the day, he was going to wait until there were no other lethal weapons like that nearby. He was just finishing with AJ, whose only fault was he was too honest. No matter how many times Tom told him that Calahardy would reimburse all agents for any incidentals relating to a case, AJ still seemed hesitant to ask for even gas money.

He was just signing off on this, with his usual note to add two hundred dollars for cab fare to the final total, when he was paged.

"Mr. Hardy? You have Mr. Ambrose on line one."

"Thank-you, Ms. Fox." This was a welcome interruption. "Deano, what's up?"

There was a few seconds of silence.

"Dean?" Tom repeated

"Yeah… I know I shouldn't bother you at work, but…"

"What's wrong? Seth still bothering you?" Tom asked

"No, it's just that…" Dean broke down suddenly.

 _Not good…_

"Dean, calm down for a second… where are you?"

He was about five minutes from the office, apparently.

"Take a breath. Relax." Tom answered "It's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" Dean repeated, almost yelling into his Bluetooth. "I just got let go from my job!"

Tom scratched his temple. "Sorry, not the best choice of words, I know. Okay, how about take a breath. Relax. Now swing by the office and we'll see what we need to do."

Tom heard Dean swallow loudly on the other end. "I'm sorry for yelling."

"I've been yelled at before, man. Shit happens. See you in ten."

Tom hung up and paged Ms. Fox with instructions to let Dean in immediately when he arrived and to hold all his calls until further notice. He then called Finance.

"Irwin? It's Tom. I need to ask you about something…"

Other than still having red eyes, Dean was composed when he arrived at Calahardy. The waiting area was deserted, so Dean went to Tom's office without any issue.

Tom was waiting. In prep, he'd cleared all the paperwork onto the sofa that had once served as Dean's bed. His desk was now spotless except for a thin manila envelope with the firm's seal on it and the word CONFIDENTIAL in big red letters.

Tom hugged him tightly the moment he stepped in, which started Dean crying again. Tom rubbed his boyfriend's back softly until the tears stopped. Dean wiped his eyes with his arm, looking totally sheepish.

"Sit down, handsome." Tom wiped one last stray tear from Dean's cheek with his thumb. "Let's see what we can do."

Sam and Dean sat nervously across the table from James Lawson. Dean, as always, tried to play it cool but something was unsettling about the guy and Sam just couldn't shake the feeling.

"You boys are top notch" James said as he sipped from his beer bottle "Most first timers can't just jump right in and do as well as you two did"

"Well you know, some things just come naturally" Dean said cooly, shooting James a grin "Anything else you can line up for us?"

Sam gave his brother a glaring look but Dean ignored him.

"I'm sure I can find you boys all sorts of shoots." James said

The three continued to eat their meal and Dean continued to shoot the breeze with James as if they were old pals. Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw someone walk into the restaurant and he instantly tensed, sending a jab with his elbow into Dean's side to get his attention. The two kept their heads down as the man scanned the room, his eyes landing on James. James saw the man's motion to join him so James excused himself and walked outside the restaurant with the man.

"What the hell is Roman doing here?" Dean asked, peeking over Sam's shoulder

"Good question." Sam slid out of his seat "I'll find out"

Quickly making his way to the door of the restaurant he slipped out, hood of his jacket over his head. With his back turned to the two men he pulled out his phone, pretending to be texting someone.

"It needs to be soon, Lawson" Dick said impatiently

"I'm working on it" Lawson spat back "Give me time, these things don't just happen overnight"

"Thirty six hours, you come through on your end of the deal and we sign."

Dick Roman got into the waiting limo and James walked back into the restaurant. Sam had to find a way to get back in without James knowing that he was eavesdropping on the conversation so he went around back and hurriedly made his way through the kitchen, much to the chef's despair.

"Friend of yours?" Dean was asking as Sam sat down

"Oh, him?" James sighed "Associate of sorts"

"You don't seem very fond of him."

"He's an ass" James leaned in "Look, I need to be upfront with you boys"

Sam and Dean also leaned forward

"I'm financially in the hole. Deep. I put my trust in someone I shouldn't have and now I've got the IRS on my ass"

"What does Di-he have to do with that?" Sam questioned

"He's buying Likansuk out. Saving my tail and giving me enough money to get my kids and get out of the country"

Sam and Dean shared a look but kept playing innocent. Back at their hotel later that night Dean was trying to do research on Dick Roman and the porn company, hands going to his dark hair in frustration.

"What does Dick Roman want with a porn company?" he asked

"Beats me" Sam shrugged from the foot of his bed, laptop resting on his knees

"You find anything?" Dean cracked open another can of beer

"Yeah, actually" Sam turned the laptop around "Seems Roman is investing in the entertainment business"

"Starting small I see" Dean said as he read the headline on the article "Former CEO of SucroCorp Sets Sights in New Direction, Buys Out Wrestling Company"

"That's a start" Sam said

Sara left the office in a hurry that afternoon, spinning gravel as she drove her Harley out of the parking lot in the opposite direction of her house. Presumably heading for lunch, Alicia didn't think much about it and made sure to take messages for any calls Sara received. A short while later Sara pulled into the parking lot of an apartment complex. After finding apartment number three fifty six, she knocked on the door and waited.

"What took you so long?" Finn asked with a grin as he opened the door

"Shut up and kiss me" Sara said, pushing her way into the man's apartment and wrapping her arm around his neck, pulling him into a deep kiss

Finn barely made it to the couch before Sara was on him, her mouth hungrily attacking his face and neck in kisses and bites as she removed her button up blouse. She didn't want to take the time to think about what she was doing, Finn had become an intoxicating addiction to her and she couldn't get enough of him. It was scaring her, but she needed him. This lunchtime rendezvous would tie her over until later that night, when she could have him again.


End file.
